Digitized  by 

tlie  Internet  Archive 

in  2015 

https://arcliive.org/details/causescureofpuseOOwarr_0 


THE 

CAUSES  AND  THE  CURE 

0  F 

P  U  S  E  Y  I  S  M  : 

OR,  THE 

ELEMENTARY  PRINCIPLES  OF  ROMAN  ERROR 

DETECTED     IN  THE 

LITUKGY,  OFFICES,  HOMILIES,  AND  USAGES 

OF  THE 

EPISCOPAL  CHURCHES  OF  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA; 
WITH  A  PROPOSED  REMEDY. 


BY  IRA  WARREN, 

LATE  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  '   MONTHLY   EPISCOPAI.  OBSEBVEB." 


"  How  liule  diJ  the  venerable  men  — the  martyrs  of  the  English  Church  —  imagine 
what  they  were  doing,  and  what  harvest  for  their  country  ihey  were  preparing,  when, 
from  a'mistalien  anxiety  to  conciliate  the  adherents  of  the  ancient  idolatry,  they  pro- 
fessed their  submission  to  the  very  authors  of  that  idolatry,  and  admitted  into  the 
constitutions  they  formed,  the  routs  ot  llie  anciejil  delusion,  and  the  germs  of  an  after- 
growth  of  polytheism  I "  I^^^  ^^^^^^ 

SECOND  EDITION. 

BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED  BY  CROCKER  &  BREWSTER. 
NEW  YORK  :  M.  W.  DODD. 
PHILADELPHIA :  HENRY  PERKINS. 
1847. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1847,  by 
IRA  WARREN, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


GEORGE    A.  CURTIS; 

NEW  ENGLAND  TYPE  AND  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDKHy, 
BOSTON. 


PREFACE. 


Being  an  Episcopalian,  the  author  of  this  work  has 
written  with  a  desire,  not  to  injure,  but  to  benefit,  the 
Episcopal  church.  He  has  attacked  nothing  essential  to 
its  spread  in  the  world.  On  the  contrary,  he  has  assailed 
those  things  only  which  are  destructive  of  its  interests, 
and  which  cast  a  mildew  upon  all  its  prospects  of  use- 
fulness in  this  country.  In  a  word,  he  has  attacked  those 
things  only  which  he  firmly  believes  to  be  essentially 
popish,  and  which  engender  popery.  These,  when  at- 
tempting to  write  on  tractarianism,  his  christian  honor,  as 
well  as  his  protestant  instincts,  have  compelled  him  to 
attack.  His  Episcopalian  friends  will  please  to  observe 
that  he  is  not  assailing  them.  Far  otherwise.  They  are 
his  brethren,  fastened  to  him  by  the  bonds  which  surround 
a  common  household.  Their  interests  are  his  interests. 
He  has  no  private  or  public  wrongs  to  avenge  ;  and  if 
he  had,  vengeance  is  not  his.  He  has  the  kindest  feel- 
ings towards  his  brethren ;  and  in  their  presence  he  now 
virashes  his  hands  of  any  intent  except  that  of  doing 
something  to  drive  popery  from  the  Episcopal  church. 

Boston,  May  3,  1847. 


CONTENTS. 


CAUSES  OF  PUSEYISM. 
PART  I. 

THE  HISTORICAL  ARGUMENT. 

THE  REFORMATION  OF  THE  ESTABLISHED  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  AND 
OF  THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


NEVER  COMPLETED. 

CHAPTER  I.  Page 
The  English  Reformation  accidental  in  its  Origin,  19 

CHAPTER  11. 

The  English  Reformation  accidental  in  its  Progress,  25 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  EngUsh  Reformation  incomplete  as  to  Doctrines,  35 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Reformation  incomplete  as  to  Usages,  41 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Reformation  incomplete  as  to  the  Numbers  Reformed,    ...  50 
CHAPTER  VI. 

Results  of  an  unfinished  Reformation,   61 


vi 


CONTENTS, 


PART  II. 

CAUSES  WHICH  HAVE  PREVENTED  THE  COMPLETION  OF  THE  REFORMA- 
TION IN  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH,  AND  IN  THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCO- 


PAL CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Tolerance  of  Romish  Error,  73 

CHAPTER  H. 

Intolerance  of  Purity  in  Worship,  84 


PART  III. 
THE  THEOLOGICAL  ARGUMENT. 

THE  PRAYER-BOOK  NEVER  FULLY  PURGED  OF  THE  REMAINS  OF 


PAPAL  ERROR. 
CHAPTER  I. 

Method  of  interpreting  the  Prayer-book,  96 

CHAPTER  H. 

The  Communion  Office,  100 

CHAPTER  HI. 

The  Baptismal  Office,  115 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Catechism,  125 

CHAPTER  V. 

Office  for  the  Burial  of  the  Dead,  130 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Ordination  Office,  133 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Declaration  of  Absolution,  139 

CHAPTER  Vin. 
The  Calendar,  145 


CONTENTS. 


vii 


PART  IV. 
THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  ARGUMENT. 

CERTAIN  USAGES  SANCTIONED  AND  USED  BY  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCHES 
OF  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA,  WHICH  NECESSARILY,  ON  PHILOSOPHI- 
CAL PRINCIPLES,  BEGET  ROMISH  VIEWS  AND  ROMISH  FEELINGS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Usages  which  imply  and  teach  False  Doctrine,  148 

CHAPTER  U. 

Usages  which  beget  Romish  Feelings,  168 


PART  V. 
THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  ARGUMENT. 

CERTAIN  OPINIONS  AND  CUSTOMS  ADOPTED  BY  THE  PROTESTANT  EPIS- 
COPAL CHURCH,  WHICH  GIVE  INCREASED  ACTIVITY  TO  THE  CAUSES 


OF  PUSEYISM  ALREADY  DESCRIBED. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Notion  of  Catholic  Consent,  178 

CHAPTER  H. 

Authority  of  the  Church,  186 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Teaching  of  the  Church,  203 

CHAPTER  IV. 

High  Views  of  the  Ministry,  205 

CHAPTER  V. 

Tyrannizing  High  Churchism,  212 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Falling  Back  in  Times  of  Trial,  219 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Some  of  the  first  Stepping-stones,  227 


viii 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Are  these  the  true  Causes  ?  232 


CURE  OF  PUSEYISM. 
PART  VI. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Revision  of  the  Prayer-book  and  Homilies,  242 

CHAPTER  II. 

Abridgment  and  Simplification  of  Usages,  249 

CHAPTER  III. 

Purification  of  our  own  Minds,  254 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Disciplinary  Cleansing  of  the  Church,  260 

Conclusion,  263 


INTRODUCTION. 


It  is  well  known  that  about  twelve  years  since,  a  series 
of  publications  were  commenced  at  Oxford,  England,  en- 
titled "  Tracts  for  the  Times."  For  a  while,  the  doctrines 
and  usages  inculcated  varied  so  little  from  the  general 
sentiment  in  the  English  church,  that  they  attracted  atten- 
tion for  their  earnest  tone  and  their  general  display  of 
learning  and  ability,  rather  than  for  any  lack  of  soundness 
in  the  faith.  The  appeal  of  these  writers  was  first  to 
antiquity ;  and  they  seem  to  have  studied  and  represented 
the  early  fathers  only  preparatory  to  studying  and  repre- 
senting their  successors.  Indeed,  so  nearly  did  the  pro- 
gressive corruption  of  doctrine  and  usage  in  these  tracts 
resemble  the  historical  facts  developed  from  the  year  200 
to  the  assembling  of  the  council  of  Trent,  that  Track  of 
Time  would  be  a  far  more  appropriate  designation  for  them 
than  "  Tracts  for  the  Times."  As  these  publications  went 
forward,  and  the  germ  of  one  error  after  another  began  to 
blot  their  pages,  discerning  minds  began  to  discover  them, 
and  to  exhibit  symptoms  of  alarm.  It  was  a  long  time, 
however,  before  there  was  anything  like  a  general  commo- 
tion ;  and  it  was  only  when  they  had  reached  the  enormous 
number  of  ninety,  and  had  brought  antiquity  down  to  the 


10 


INTRODUCTION. 


sixteenth  century,  and  adopted  the  papal  decrees  of  Trent, 
— the  damnatory  clauses  excepted, — that  public  indignation 
was  so  far  awakened  as  to  arrest  their  further  publication. 

Thoughtful  observers  in  this  country  saw  the  havoc  pro- 
duced, and  feared  the  result ;  but  they  still  hoped  that  the 
miasm  engendered  abroad  would  not  be  floated  to  our 
atmosphere,  and  that  the  Episcopal  church  of  this  country 
would  escape  the  infection  which  had  so  deeply  diseased 
the  mother  church  of  England.  It  was  a  vain  hope.  As 
we  have  imitators  of  foreign  fashions,  so  there  were  not 
wanting  those  who  were  ready  to  adopt  imported  doctrines. 
Seven  years  ago,  an  edition  of  the  "  Tracts  for  the  Times  " 
was  published  in  New  York ;  and  it  need  surprise  no  one 
that  the  highest  of  the  old-fashioned  high  churchmen,  as 
well  as  all  the  young  amateur  sprigs  of  theology,  who  had 
chosen  the  clerical  profession  because  it  would  clothe  them 
in  black  silk  and  white  linen,  and  invest  them  with  a  degree 
of  imagined  gentility,  seized  upon  it  with  avidity.  In 
short,  the  infection  spread  with  great  rapidity.  High 
church  presbyters,  in  their  sermons,  extolled  the  "  Tracts  " 
as  the  best  expositors  of  christian  doctrine ;  bishops,  in 
their  conventional  addresses,  praised  them  as  embodying 
the  results  of  the  highest  attainment  in  primitive  theology, 
and  the  best  presentation  of  apostolic  truth,  in  the  apostolic 
spirit.  Moderate  men  spoke  of  them  as  containing  much 
truth,  mixed  with  a  little  error,  and  thought  the  truth  should 
be  received  and  the  error  rejected;  while  here  and  there 
a  solitary  voice,  and  one  Episcopal  press,  the  Episcopal 
Eecorder  of  Philadelphia,  uttered  bold  and  fearless  denun- 
ciations against  them,  as  containing  the  substance  of  the 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


Roman  heresy,  and  as  tending  to  the  overthrow  of  protes- 
tant  truth.  So  limited,  however,  was  the  sphere  of  vigorous 
opposition,  that  the  principles  of  the  tracts  advanced  with 
greater  and  still  greater  rapidity,  until,  in  the  summer  of 
1843,  a  young  man  who  openly,  in  the  presence  of  his 
examiners,  professed  his  belief  in  the  papal  decrees  of 
Trent,  was  ordained,  in  spite  of  public  remonstrance,  to 
the  ministry  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church.  This 
young  man  was  educated  in  the  General  Theological 
Seminary,  and  was  ordained  in  the  largest  diocese  in  the 
country,  and  by  a  bishop  exercising  at  that  time  a  leading 
influence ;  it  was,  therefore,  a  crowning  act  of  apostasy, 
and  deeply  wounded  the  honor  of  the  whole  American 
Episcopal  church.  The  act  was  like  an  earthquake ;  it 
seemed  likely  for  the  time  to  open  the  earth  and  entomb 
the  persons  immediately  concerned,  and  shook  the  Episco- 
pal church  to  its  most  distant  extremities.  From  this  time 
forward,  the  number  of  open  opposers  was  greatly  increased. 
Yet  Tractarianism  continued  to  increase ;  and  is  at  this 
moment  advancing  as  fast  as  ever.  If  I  were  asked  why  it 
is  not  yet  arrested,  I  should  say,  for  the  simple  reason,  that 
its  causes  have  not  yet  been  discovered  and  removed.  To 
discover  and  expose  these  causes,  and  to  propose  a  remedy, 
will  be  the  object  of  the  following  pages. 

The  attempt  has  been  made  to  break  the  force  of  what- 
ever may  be  said  in  this  treatise,  by  representing  its 
author  as  no  longer  attached  to  the  Episcopal  church,  and 
as  about  to  leave  its  communion.  In  view  of  this  fact,  I 
trust  I  may  say,  that  during  a  membership  of  eighteen 
years,  there  has  never  been  an  hour  or  a  moment  when  I 


12 


INTRODUCTION. 


did  not  love  the  Episcopal  church.  I  love  it  still.  I  have 
ever  indulged  the  hope  that  this  church  will  not  only  con- 
tinue as  it  has  heen,  one  of  the  bulwarks  of  the  protestant 
faith,  but  that  it  will  become  the  very  fountain  head  of  pure 
gospel  preaching,  and  the  leading  division  of  that  army 
which,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  shall  conquer  the 
world.  With  these  views  and  feelings, — though  I  confess 
they  have  of  late  been  somewhat  shaken, — I  can  have  no 
thought,  unless  its  errors  become  incurable,  of  ever  leaving 
its  communion.  The  language  of  my  heart  now  is,  "  Her 
people  shall  be  my  people,  and  her  God  my  God — let  me 
enjoy  her  smiles  while  I  live,  and  in  her  arms  be  gathered 
to  my  fathers." 

But  while  I  say  all  this,  I  am  obliged  to  add,  that  the 
Episcopal  church  has  many  defects.*  Of  these,  although 
for  a  number  of  years  I  was  accustomed  to  hold  almost 
weekly  intercourse  with  the  public  through  Episcopal 
prints,  I  was  permitted  to  say  nothing.  Here,  every  ave- 
nue to  the  public  mind  was  shut  against  me ;  and  not 
against  me  only,  but  against  every  man  who  dared  to  raise 
a  note  of  warning  or  remonstrance. 

With  this  state  of  things  I  have  long  been  dissatisfied. 
Having  studied,  to  some  extent,  the  history,  doctrines,  for- 
mularies and  usages  of  the  Episcopal  church,  I  find  there 
are  many  things  which,  in  my  humble  opinion,  ought  to  be 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  discovered  a  passage  in  "Bishop 
Burnet's  History  of  his  Own  Times,"  so  much  like  it  in  sentiment, 
that  1  take  pleasure  in  giving  it  to  the  reader.  He  says,  —  "I  have 
always  had  a  true  zeal  for  the  church  of  England ;  I  have  lived  in 
its  communion  with  great  joy,  and  have  pursued  its  true  interests 
with  unfeigned  affection.  Yet  I  must  say  there  are  many  things  in 
it  that  have  been  very  uneasy  to  me."  —  Vol.  ii.,  p.  634. 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


reformed  or  given  up,  but  which  are  growing  worse  and 
worse,  with  no  prospect  of  amendment,  unless  those  in 
high  places  can  be  reached  with  reproofs  which  we  have 
all  hitherto  failed  to  apply,  either  for  want  of  courage,  or 
lack  of  the  means  of  doing  so.  I  am  persuaded  that  the 
old  leaven  of  popery  was  not  wholly  purged  out  of  the 
English  church  at  the  reformation  ;  that  it  remains  diffused 
through  the  formularies,  which  we,  as  a  denomination,  have 
inherited  from  that  church ;  and  that  from  the  fermentation 
of  this  leaven  have  sprung  up  those  popish  bubbles  with 
which  the  doughy  portion  of  our  communion  is  so  thickly 
covered  over.  I  am  convinced,  still  further,  that  unless 
this  corrupting  portion  of  error  is  removed,  we  shall  con- 
tinue to  manifest  Romeward  tendencies  to  the  end  of  time. 
Our  misfortune  is,  that  the  larger  portion  of  even  the  evan- 
gelical clergy  do  not  see  this.  Their  cry  is,  "  Let  us  cling 
to  the  church  as  it  is."  Although  the  prayer-book,  in  its 
preface,  takes  the  ground  that,  "  by  common  consent  and 
authority,"  whatever  belongs  to  "  forms  and  usages  "  "  may 
be  altered,  abridged,  enlarged,  amended,  or  otherwise  disjjosed 
of,  as  may  seem  most  convenient  for  the  edification  of  the  people, 
accordingAo  the  various  exigencies  of  times  and  occasions," 
yet  this  wholesome  provision  has  become  a  practical  nullity, 
from  the  extreme  horror  with  which  the  majority  of  the 
clergy  have  come  to  regard  the  idea  of  making  the  slightest 
alteration  in  the  ritual  which  our  fathers  have  left  us. 
"The  church  as  it  is,"  "The  prayer-book  as  it  is,"  "The 
usages  of  the  church  as  they  are,"  these  are  the  watch- 
words which  pass  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  from  print  to 
print ;  and  hence,  the  first  uttered  word  which  implies  that 
2 


14 


INTRODUCTION. 


anything  in  the  constitution  of  the  Episcopal  church,  in  its 
usages,  or  in  its  ritual,  is  not  as  perfect  as  possible,  is  either 
frowned  or  flattered  into  silence. 

Such  being  the  facts  of  the  case,  I  have  deemed  it  incum- 
bent upon  me  to  attempt  to  speak  in  the  public  ear  through 
some  independent  channel,  and  have  thought  the  mode 
selected  the  most  unobjectionable  of  any.  Strongly  as  I 
love  the  church  of  my  choice,  and  much  as  I  desire  its  ulti- 
mate extension  in  the  earth,  I  am  yet  willing,  if  need  be,  to 
do  something  to  check  its  advance  until  a  remedy  can  be 
applied ;  for  I  am  persuaded  that,  under  present  circumstan- 
ces, with  the  tractarian  influence  shaping  and  swaying  its 
policy,  its  growth  is  not  desirable.*  I  would  rather  see 
every  branch  of  God's  church  witkout  episcopacy,  than  the 
Episcopal  church  without  a  life-imparting  gospel. 

I  am  persuaded  that  a  remedy  cannot  be  found  for  the 
evils  of  which  I  complain,  until  the  laity  can  be  reached 
with  an  appeal  which  shall  stir  them  to  action.  It  is  clear, 
that  the  clergy  as  a  body,  including  a  majority  of  the  evan- 
gelical portion,  cling  to  the  objectionable  things  of  which  I 
speak,  with  great  tenacity.  It  is  surprising  what  a  fond- 
ness they  manifest  for  the  unsavory  leeks  which  our  fathers 

*  Some  three  years  since,  the  Hon.  'William  Jay,  of  Bedford,  New 
York,  a  distinguished  member  of  tlie  Episcopal  church,  was  invited 
to  contribute  something  towards  the  erection  of  a  place  of  worship  for 
an  Episcopal  congregation  just  gathered  in  his  neighborhood  ;  but  in 
a  public  letter  he  declined,  on  the  ground  that  such  was  the  course 
of  things  among  us,  he  could  have  no  guarantee  that  any  church  edi- 
fice he  might  aid  in  building  would  not  soon  be  perverted  to  the 
dissemination  of  principles  at  war  with  all  he  held  dear  as  a  protes- 
tant.  For  the  present,  until  a  remedy  could  be  found  for  these  things, 
he  preferred  to  distribute  his  charities  where  he  had  more  confidence 
that  they  would  not  be  turned  aside  from  their  intended  use.  I  have 
not  his  letter  at  hand,  and  speak  of  it  from  recollection. 


INTKODUCTION. 


15 


brought  from  spiritual  Egypt,  when  led  out  from  thence  at 
the  reformation.  Trifling  things,  more  worthless  than 
straws,  which  render  the  Episcopal  church  unpopular,  and 
hinder  its  growth  and  usefulness  in  the  world,  great  num- 
bers of  the  clergy  fondle  and  caress,  as  a  man  would  a  pet 
dog  which  he  had  learned  to  consider  essential  to  his 
happiness.  My  aim,  therefore,  in  the  following  pages,  is 
to  reach  the  laity,  and  to  press  upon  their  attention  a 
succession  of  topics,  which,  by  great  effort,  and  to  the 
manifest  injury  of  our  denomination,  have  been  kept  out 
of  view.  No  doubt,  the  theme  to  many  of  our  people  will 
be  a  new  one,  but  not,  I  trust,  the  less  inviting  on  that 
account.  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  it  will  awaken  the  more 
interest  from  the  care  with  which  it  has  been  hitherto  con- 
cealed. At  any  rate,  my  desire  is  to  see  it  awaken  a 
general  concern  among  us  for  the  purity  of  the  gospel.  I 
would  have  an  interest  in  this  matter  reach  all  the  borders 
of  our  denomination,  and  the  General  Convention  made 
to  feel  so  heavy  a  pressure  of  public  sentiment  from  with- 
out, and  so  imperative  a  prompting  from  within,  as  to  be 
willing  to  take  the  matter  in  hand,  and  revise  the  liturgy, 
making  it  thoroughly  protestant.  To  favor  this  object,  I 
invite  the  cooperation  of  all  the  christian  churches  in  this 
land,  of  every  name.  I  ask  them  to  invite  the  attention  of 
their  own  people  to  the  subject ;  to  give  this  volume  a  wide 
circulation  among  them;  and  in  every  way  to  do  what  * 
they  can  to  awaken  a  public  feeling  which  shall  have 
moral  force  enough  to  make  itself  felt.  I  ask  this  in  behalf 
of  the  gospel,  in  which  all  have  a  common  interest.  The 
Episcopal  church  already  embraces  a  very  considerable 


16 


INTRODUCTION. 


portion  of  the  wealth  and  talent  of  the  country,  and  is 
fast  augmenting  its  worldly  strength  from  these  sources. 
Should  it,  in  the  inscrutable  providence  of  God,  become 
thoroughly  pervaded  with  the  papal  leaven,  and  in  any 
measure  moulded  to  the  papal  spirit,  (and  such  the  trac- 
tarian  portion  has  already  become,)  it  can  hardly  be  con- 
ceived what  a  formidable  power  its  wealth  and  talent  would 
associate  with  the  popish  interest,  and  ply  to  the  same 
general  end ;  and  how  mighty  and  destructive  an  engine 
would  be  added  to  the  forces  which  make  war  upon  the, 
saints  of  God.  It  is  painful  to  indulge  a  thought  of  the 
possibility  that  such  a  perversion  may  ever  overtake  the 
church  of  my  choice.  And  yet,  if  the  word  of  God  is  true, 
and  history  is  not  a  lie,  I  know  that  such  a  fall  is  possible. 
Rome  was  once  a  pure  church,  but  in  her  pride  she  fell 
into  a  pit  from  which  she  may  never  recover. 

The  writing  of  this  book  has  brought  against  me  a  host 
of  prejudices,  and  has  destroyed  friendships  which  I  have 
held  very  dear.  This  last  result  I  hoped  to  avoid  ;  but  as 
it  has  turned  out  otherwise,  I  can  with  a  clear  conscience 
place  it  to  the  account  of  my  misfortune,  and  not  my  fault. 
Much  as  I  value  and  love  the  evangelical  clergy  who  are 
known  to  me,  I  cannot  purchase  a  continuance  of  their  kind 
regards  at  the  expense  of  keeping  silence  on  this  subject. 
Some,  I  have  reason  to  believe  and  know,  agree  with  me, 
and  rejoice  to  see  this  effort,  ineffectual  though  it  may  be, 
to  do  something  towards  removing  the  evils  which  afflict 
the  Episcopal  church;  others,  dissenting  in  part  from  what 
1  advance,  do  yet,  in  consideration  of  the  uprightness  of  my 
motives,  continue  their  friendship  for  me.    The  few  or 


INTRODUCTION. 


17 


many  who  compose  these  two  classes,  I  hold  dearer  than 
ever.  From  the  remainder  I  part  in  sorrow,  as  from  the 
victims  of  a  wretched  delusion. 

While  I  say  this,  however,  I  must  add,  that  I  do  not 
write  primarily  or  mainly  for  the  clergy.  My  appeal  is  to 
the  laity ;  and  among  them,  I  know  there  are  hundreds  and 
thousands  who  will  respond  to  what  may  be  said.  Nothing 
can  hinder  this  response,  unless  it  be  an  effort  to  prevent 
them  from  reading.  Against  this,  I  hope  they  will  firmly 
set  their  faces.  From  the  action  of  nearly  all  the  Episcopal 
conventions  in  the  country  for  the  last  few  years,  it  is 
manifest  that  the  clergy  are  far  higher  in  their  notions  than 
the  laity.  Still,  the  laity  have  been  silent.  It  is  time  that 
one  of  their  number  should  be  heard. 

There  are  great  numbers  of  the  Episcopal  clergy  who 
heartily  reject  and  warmly  oppose  distinctive  tractarianism ; 
but  they  do  not  believe  the  cause  of  it  exists,  in  any  man- 
ner or  degree,  in  our  liturgy,  homilies  and  usages.  The 
main  object  of  the  writer  of  this  volume  is  to  convince 
these  persons  that  they  are  mistaken.  In  treating  of  the 
"  offices,"  &c.,  HE  had,  therefore,  nothing  to  do  beyond 
showing  that  the  roots  of  Puseyism  are  there;  for  if  evan- 
gelical Episcopalians  can  be  convinced  of  this,  a  remedy 
will  soon  be  applied.  His  plan  did  not  at  all  embrace  a 
discussion  of  "  baptismal  regeneration,"  and  other  kindred 
subjects ;  for,  on  these  he  considers  the  views  of  evangeli- 
cal Episcopalians  as  substantially  sound  and  consistent. 
They,  not  less  than  he,  have  a  lively  sense  of  the  enormous 
evils  we  are  suffering.  His  only  wish  is  to  draw  their 
attention  to  the  fountain  head  of  our  troubles. 
2* 


18 


INTRODUCTION. 


It  is  but  just  to  say,  that  the  errors  respecting  the  sacra- 
ments, pointed  out  as  existing  in  the  offices,  catechism, 
&c.,  were  not  peculiar  to  the  English  reformers.  With  the 
exception,  perhaps,  of  Zuinglius,  all  the  continental  re- 
formers were  more  or  less  infected  with  them.  They  were 
errors,  not  of  the  English  reformers,  but  of  their  times. 
The  sixteenth  century  was  an  age  of  sacramental  delu- 
sion. Nearly  all  the  reformers  in  England  and  abroad 
\vrote,  and  spoke,  and  acted,  with  a  sacramental  veil  upon 
their  faces.    Luther  speaks  thus  of  baptism  : 

"  Perhaps  to  what  I  have  said  on  the  necessity  of  faith, 
«  the  baptism  of  little  children  may  be  objected  ;  but  as  the 
word  of  God  is  mighty  to  change  the  heart  of  a  wicked 
man,  who  is  not  less  deaf  nor  less  helpless  than  an  infant, 
so  the  prayers  of  the  church,  to  which  all  things  are  pos- 
sible, change  the  little  child,  by  the  faith  it  pleases  God  to 
put  in  his  heart,  and  thus  purifies  and  renews  it."  ^ 

The  English  reformers,  then,  ought  not  to  be  so  much 
blamed  for  holding,  as  the  English  church  for  retaining, 
views  of  which  the  better  light  of  subsequent  ages  should 
have  induced  a  rejection. 

*  D'Aubigne's  Reformation,  vol.  ii.,  p.  123. 


CAUSES  OF  PUSEYISM. 


PART  I. 
THE   HISTORICAL  ARGUMENT. 

THE  REFORMATION  OF  THE  ESTABLISHED  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 
AND  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  NEVER  COMPLETED. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  ENGLISH  REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL. 

The  reformation  in  the  English  church  was  acci- 
dental in  its  origin.  I  mean  by  this,  that  it  grew  out 
of  a  fact  which  produced  it  as  an  accidental,  and  not 
as  a  designed  event.  The  promoters  of  it  did  not  hold 
it  up  as  an  eiid  to  be  sought  and  gained ;  but  effected 
it,  for  the  most  part,  unintentionally,  while  in  pursuit 
of  another  and  distinct  object.  That  other  object  was 
the  wresting  of  the  rights  of  the  crown  of  England  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  Roman  pontiff.  This  was  the  great, 
leading  aim  which  directed  and  controlled  the  first 
reformatory  movement  in  England.  It  was  a  battle 
between  Henry  VIII.  and  the  pope ;  the  former  strug- 
gling to  break  the  fetters  which  a  spiritual  despot  had 
put  upon  him ;  the  latter  using  all  his  arts  to  hold  his 
victim  fast  in  his  toils.  In  its  origin,  therefore,  it  had 
no  aim  save  this,  to  set  the  king  and  nation  of  Eng- 
land free  from  the  secular  encroachments  of  the  secu- 
larized see  of  Rome.    In  proof  of  this,  I  might  cite 


20  REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  ORIGIN. 

the  whole  array  of  facts  which  attended  the  birth  of 
that  long-continued  and  vacillating  struggle. 

From  the  earliest  encroachments  of  the  papal  su- 
premacy upon  the  prerogatives  of  the  English  crown, 
a  struggle  of  resistance,  more  or  less  vigorous,  had 
been  kept  up.  During  some  reigns,  the  royal  power 
had  asserted  its  rights  in  manly  tones,  and  thrown 
very  serious  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  advancing 
enemy ;  under  others,  resistance  was  feeble  and  inde- 
cisive, and  did  very  little  to  check  the  progress  of 
usurpation.  Henry  VIII.,  in  whose  reign  this  refor- 
mation began,  was  himself  a  bigoted  papist.  He  was 
a  man  of  considerable  ability,  and  was  somewhat  dis- 
tinguished as  a  scholar.  At  rather  an  early  period 
of  his  life,  he  wrote  a  book  against  Luther  in  defence 
of  the  seven  sacraments  of  the  Romish  church,  which 
procured  for  him  the  title  of  '■^Defender  of  the  Faith." 
He  courted  the  pope  with  a  constant  and  servile  sub- 
mission, and  identified  his  own  interests  so  entirely 
with  those  of  the  Roman  see,  that,  in  the  language 
of  a  historian,  "  Had  he  died  at  any  time  before  the 
nineteenth  year  of  his  reign,  he  could  scarce  have 
escaped  being  canonized,  notwithstanding  all  his 
faults." 

Devoted  as  Henry  was  to  the  see  of  Rome,  he 
would  probably  never  have  called  in  question  the 
papal  authority,  had  not  the  pope  made  a  final  deci- 
sion against  his  divorce  from  Queen  Katharine,  and 
marriage  to  Anne  Boleyn.  On  this  change  in  his 
matrimonial  relation,  the  king's  heart  was  steadfastly 
bent ;  but  so  bigoted  was  his  reverence  for  the  au- 
thority of  the  self-styled  successor  of  St.  Peter,  that 
he  spent  several  years  in  attending  to  little  else  than 
devising  means  for  obtaining  a  dispensation  from  the 
pope.    Finding,  after  he  had  exhausted  all  the  arts 


REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  ORIGIN.  21 

of  diplomacy  and  all  the  terms  of  flattery  and  en- 
treaty, that  the  pope  was  inexorable,  he  was  shut  up 
to  the  necessity  of  first  doubting,  then  denying,  and 
finally  resisting  a  claim  which  many  of  his  predeces- 
sors had  stoutly  withstood. 

Thus  began  the  movement  which  carried  the  Eng- 
lish reformation  iii  its  train.  The  first  step  taken 
was  a  denial  of  the  pope's  supremacy ;  and  the  over- 
throw of  this  supremacy  was  sought,  not  as  an  end, 
but  as  the  means  of  securing  another  object.  Its  in- 
validation was  desired,  not  because  it  was  an  unscrip- 
tural  usurpation,  destructive  of  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  makes  his  people  free,  but  because  it  stood  like 
a  wall  of  fire  across  the  path  which  led  to  the  ob- 
ject of  Henry's  desires.  It  is  questionable,  indeed, 
whether,  at  the  time  this  first  step  was  taken,  there 
Avas  any  thought  of  a  reformation  in  religion  enter- 
tained by  the  king  and  parliament.  It  was  a  mere 
struggle  for  temporal  power,  looking  to  no  object  be- 
yond the  advancement  of  this  or  that  secular  interest. 
This  appears  probable  from  the  language  of  an  act 
of  parliament,  passed  in  1533,  soon  after  Henry's 
marriage  to  Anne  Boleyn.  "The  preamble  bears," 
says  Burnet,*  "that  the  crown  of  England  was  im- 
perial, and  that  the  nation  was  a  complete  body 
within  itself,  with  a  full  power  to  give  justice  in  all 
cases,  spiritual  as  well  as  temporal;  and  that  in  the 
spirituality,  as  there  had  been  at  all  times,  so  there 
were  then  men  of  that  sufficiency  and  integrity,  that 
they  might  declare  and  determine  all  doubts  in  the 
kingdom;  and  that  several  kings,  as  Edward  I.,  Ed- 
ward III.,  Richard  II.,  and  Henry  IV.,  had  by  several 
laws  preserved  the  liberty  of  the  realm,  both  spiritual 


*  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  i.,  p.  206. 


22  REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  ORIGIN. 

and  temporal,  from  the  annoyance  of  the  see  of  Rome, 
and  other  foreign  potentates ;  yet  many  inconven- 
iences had  arisen  by  appeals  to  the  see  of  Rome  in 
cases  of  matrimony,  divorces,  and  other  cases,  which 
were  not  sufficiently  provided  against  by  these  laws ; 
by  which  not  only  the  king  and  his  subjects  were  put 
to  great  charges,  but  justice  was  much  delayed  by 
appeals ;  and  Rome  being  at  such  a  distance,  evi- 
dences could  not  be  brought  thither,  nor  witnesses,  so 
easily  as  within  the  kingdom ;  therefore  it  was  en- 
acted, that  all  such  causes,  whether  relating  to  the 
king  or  any  of  his  subjects,  were  to  be  determined 
within  the  kingdom,  in  the  several  courts  to  which 
they  belonged,  notwithstanding  any  appeals  to  Rome, 
or  inhibitions  and  bulls  from  Rome." 

The  causes  here  set  forth  for  prohibiting  appeals  to 
Rome  are,  that  the  English  nation  was  a  complete 
body  within  itself;  that  there  were  men  enough  pos- 
sessing spiritual  discernment  sufficient  to  determine 
all  cases  without  such  appeals ;  that  the  king  and  his 
subjects  were  put  to  heavy  charges,  and  justice  was 
delayed  by  fixing  its  seat  at  so  great  a  distance.  Not 
one  word  is  said  about  reforming  an  abuse  of  spiritual 
power.  Indeed,  the  foundation  of  the  breach  with 
Rome  seems  to  have  been  laid  by  an  act  of  parliament 
in  1532.  by  which  the  payment  of  annuities  to  the 
Roman  court  was  restrained.  And  the  reason  recited 
by  historians  for  the  passage  of  this  act  is,  that  by  the 
payment  of  their  first  fruits,  large  sums  of  money  were 
carried  out  of  England,  to  the  impoverishing  of  the 
kingdom.  The  primary,  and  indeed  the  only  object 
of  these  acts,  appears  to  have  been,  to  free  the  liberties 
and  crown  of  England  from  foreign  trammels. 

In  saying  this,  I  would  not  be  understood  as  im- 
plying that  any  thought  of  a  reformation  in  religion 


REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  ORIGIN.  23 

was  altogether  a  new  thing  in  England;  much  less 
that  there  was  no  preparation  in  the  English  mind 
for  the  spiritual  reforms  which  the  secular  movements 
brought  along  with  them.  From  the  time  of  Wicliff, 
who  translated  the  Bible  into  English,  the  principles 
of  the  reformation  afterwards  developed  had  been 
making  gradual  advances.  To  the  Bible  which  he 
translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  Wiclitf  prefixed  a 
long  preface,  in  which  he  reflected,  in  strong  terms, 
and  with  just  severity,  on  the  vices  and  general  profli- 
gacy of  the  clergy.  And  though  his  writings  were 
not  distinguished  for  beauty  of  style,  yet  they  made 
so  direct  an  appeal  to  the  good  sense  of  the  middle 
classes,  that  he  soon  had  followers  scattered  over  the 
whole  kingdom,  making  no  public  profession  of  his 
opinions,  —  which  it  would  not  have  been  safe  for  them 
to  do, — but  holding  them  in  private,  and  gradually 
infusing  them,  as  opportunity  offered,  into  minds  with 
which  their  daily  calling  brought  them  into  contact. 
There  breathes  in  all  his  writings  a  fearless  simplici- 
ty, a  total  disregard  and  contempt  for  frowning  des- 
potism. His  principles  of  religious  freedom  wrought 
in  him  an  elevation  of  soul  which  sought  for  his  con- 
duct only  an  approving  conscience,  and  the  approba- 
tion of  his  God.  And  we  are  assured  by  the  most 
abundant  evidence,  that  the  testimony  he  was  contin- 
ually bearing  against  Romish  assumptions  and  op- 
pressions, was  soon  found,  as  we  have  intimated,  in 
full  harmony  with  the  tone  of  feeling  among  a  large 
proportion  of  the  people.  The  attentive  observer  of 
human  affairs  will  perceive,  therefore,  that,  however 
much  was  incidentally  done  at  the  reformation,  the 
great  Ruler  of  nations  had  been  long  preparing  the 
Avay  for  its  accomplishment.  Not  merely  the  life  and 
writings  of  Wicliff",  but  a  variety  of  other  circum- 


24  REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  ORIGIN. 

stances,  had  fitted  the  pubUc  mind  for  the  results  then 
witnessed.  The  open  violence  of  some  of  the  popes, 
the  shameless  and  profligate  lives  of  some  others  of 
those  high  functionaries,  the  notorious  licentiousness 
which  generally  characterized  their  court  and  capital, 
the  shockingly  corrupt  morals  of  the  clergy  generally, 
the  gross  ignorance  and  effrontery  of  the  several  or- 
ders of  the  mendicants.  —  these,  and  other  abuses, 
contributed  to  make  the  reforms  afterwards  effected 
comparatively  easy.  It  is  no  less  true  in  all  other  con- 
vulsions and  upheavings  of  society  than  in  this,  that 
there  must  be  for  some  time  previous  some  profound 
impulses  accumulating  upon  the  public  mind. 

Some  are  apt  to  look  upon  the  reformation  as  stand- 
ing on  the  utmost  verge  of  moral  life,  and  to  regard  all 
beyond  as  lying  in  unbroken  sleep,  and  surrounded 
with  darkness  impenetrable.  They  are  disposed  to 
consider  this  great  moral  revolution  as  combining 
within  itself  all  the  principles  of  an  ultimate  cause,  as 
standing  at  the  extreme  starting  point  of  that  series  of 
revolutions  which  followed  in  its  train.  The  thought  is 
unphilosophical ;  it  contradicts  all  just  views  of  the  pro- 
gress of  changes  in  individual  and  national  character. 

The  admission  of  all  this  involves  no  denial  of  the 
fact  that  the  reformation  in  England  was,  in  its  origin, 
a  secondary  and  unintended  work.  But  for  this  prep- 
aration, it  probably  could  not  have  been  effected. 
Nevertheless,  its  chief  supporters  aimed,  primarily,  at 
another  end,  and  made  this  the  instrument  of  securing 
their  chief  object.  While,  therefore,  Ave  must  magnify 
the  wisdom  and  grace  of  God  in-  educing  good  out  of 
evil,  we  can  award  to  the  king  and  parliament  the 
praise  of  no  higher  motive  than  the  desire  to  secure 
the  wealth,  power  and  independence  of  the  English 
nation. 


25 


CHAPTER  n. 

THB  ENGLISH  REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PROGRESS. 

My  next  position  is,  that  the  English  reformation 
was  accidental  in  its  progress  ;  that  is,  it  was  mainly 
so,  though  not  exclusively. 

In  sustaining  this  position,  I  need  not  confine  my- 
self to  events  which  transpired  subsequently  to  the 
rupture  of  friendship  between  Henry  VIII.  and  the 
pope.  That  was  the  first  movement  towards  the 
breaking,  in  England,  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
sovereign  pontiff.  Official  acts  had  been  previously 
resorted  to  by  those  in  authority,  to  suppress  some  of 
the  corrupt  and  corrupting  appendages  of  the  papal 
system.  The  suppression  of  monasteries  was  effected 
in  a  way  which  illustrates  what  I  am  now  saying. 
Henry  VIII.  was  fond  of  making  a  display  of  learn- 
ing, and  so  was  Cardinal  Wolsey ;  and  in  the  earlier 
part  of  Henry's  reign,  the  king  and  the  cardinal  de- 
vised a  plan  for  erecting  colleges,  and  promoting 
learning,  by  suppressing  monasteries,  and  using  for 
such  purpose  the  money  invested  in  them.*  The 
first  bull  for  carrying  this  purpose  into  effect  was 
obtained  from  Pope  Clement,  in  1524.  The  reader 
will  easily  believe  that  whatever  was  done  in  this 
way  to  reform  religion,  must  have  been  incidental 
and  unintended,  or  it  would  not  have  been  forwarded 
by  a  bull  from  the  pope.    Cardinal  Wolsey  wished 

*  Historians  also  relate  that  the  king  was  expecting  a  war  with 
France,  and  lacking  the  funds  to  make  preparations  for  it,  he  wished 
to  make  the  money  tlius  raised  contribute  something  to  this  end. — 
Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol  i.,  pp.  305,  306. 

3 


26         REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PROGRESS. 

to  make  a  display;  and  to  do  this,  he  could  think  of 
no  better  way  than  to  convert  monasteries  "into  bish- 
oprics, cathedrals,  collegiate  churches,  and  colleges." 
Thus  God  made  use  of  his  pride  to  destroy  that  sink 
of  iniquity,  the  monastic  system,  as  he  afterwards  did 
of  Henry's  lust  to  break  the  civil  chain  which  the  pope 
had  bound  around  the  English  nation. 

But  my  business  is  chiefly  with  events  that  trans- 
pired in  the  progress  of  the  reformation  which  was 
effected,  not  by  the  aid  of  the  pope's  bulls,  but  in  spite 
of  them.  And  here,  while  I  find  reforms  occurring, 
great  and  glorious,  and  such  as  have  been  lifting  the 
English  nation  into  a  higher  and  higher  eminence, 
even  to  the  present  hour,  I  find  them,  as  a  general  rule, 
only  following  in  the  train  of  other  and  more  absorb- 
ing interests,  and  creeping  into  existence  as  it  were  by 
stealth,  or  at  most  by  accident.  This  statement,  as  I 
intimated  in  the  outset,  I  desire  to  make  with  some 
measure  of  abatement,  —  applying  it,  not  to  every  spe- 
cific fact,  but  only  to  the  general  current  of  events 
which  characterized  the  period  of  which  I  speak. 

And  here  I  would  invite  attention  particularly  to 
an  abatement  of  the  persecution  of  protestants  which 
occurred  at  one  time  during  the  controversy  between 
Henry  and  the  pope.  It  arose  from  no  desire  to  ex- 
tend the  rights  of  conscience  and  the  liberty  of  think- 
ing and  acting  freely  in  religion, — rights  and  liber- 
ties which  are  inherent  in  the  very  first  principles  of 
a  protestant  faith, — but  it  Iiad  its  origin  in  the  selfish 
ambition  to  force  the  pope  into  a  compliance  with 
Henry's  wishes.  It  is  well  known  that  at  that  day 
the  Romish  church  relied  almost  wholly  upon  force 
to  propagate  its  faith  and  to  suppress  alleged  heresy. 
Henry  caused  the  withdrawal  of  all  forcible  persecu- 
tion of  the  preacheiis  of  Luther's  doctrines,  and  held 


UEFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PROGRESS.  27 


the  fact  up  before  the  pope  as  a  threat,  that  heresy- 
would  be  permitted  to  spread  over  the  land,  unless 
his  demands  should  be  acceded  to.*  And  when  More 
came  into  favor,  who  was  a  bigoted  persecutor  by  na- 
ture, and  persuaded  the  king  that  a  vigorous  support 
of  the  church  Avould  be  more  likely  to  bring  the  pope 
to  a  compliance,  a  proclamation  against  the  heretics 
was  issued,  and  a  rigorous  array  of  force  was  again 
put  in  motion  to  exterminate  false  doctrine. 

The  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  English,  one 
of  the  most  important  movements  in  Henry's  time, 
was  wholly  accidental,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  are 
vising  the  term  in  this  discussion.  When  a  transla- 
tion was  proposed,  great  opposition,  of  course,  was 
made  to  it,  and  nothing  seems  to  have  prevailed  with 
the  king,  except  the  argument  that  a  flattering  of  the 
people,  by  entrusting  them  with  the  Bible,  would 
make  his  own  supremacy  acceptable,  while  that  of 
the  pope  would  become  odious  by  the  remembrance 
that  he  had  kept  them  in  darkness.  He  was  assured, 
moreover,  that,  as  the  Scriptures  recognized  a  kingly 
head  of  the  church,  rather  than  a  papal,  a  general 
reading  of  them  would  establish  his  claims  among  the 
people,  and  overthrow  those  of  the  pontiff.f  It  was 
not,  therefore,  any  love  for  the  Scriptures,  or  any  de- 
sire that  the  people  should  become  enlightened  by 
them,  which  led  the  king  to  consent  to  their  transla- 
tion,— for  he  had  utterly  refused  to  give  his  consent 
on  a  previous  occasion ;  but  it  was  his  jealousy  of  the 
pope's  influence  with  the  people. 

I  may  refer  also  to  some  modifications  in  religious 
matters,  made  in  1543.  "The  king,"  says  Burnet, J 
"  was  now  entering  upon  a  war;  so  it  seemed  reason- 

*  Burnet's  Hisl.  Ref.,  vol.  i.,  p.  260.         f  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  315. 
t  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  516. 


28  REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PROGRESS. 


able  to  qualify  the  severity  of  the  late  acts  about  reli- 
gion, that  all  might  be  quiet  at  home." 

Facts  like  these  might  be  multiplied  to  a  great  ex- 
tent; for  a  careful  analysis  of  the  historical  records 
which  relate  to  this  reformation,  will  show  that  nearly 
every  specific  reform  grew  out  of,  and  was  modified 
by,  considerations  of  state  policy.*  This  is  not  the 
branch  of  my  subject,  however,  to  which  I  am  chiefly 
anxious  to  draw  attention;  and,  having  opened  it,  I 
leave  it  to  be  enlarged  upon  by  others,  or  possibly  by 
myself  hereafter. 

Thus  was  the  progress  of  the  reformation,  or  its 
outward  acknoAvledgment  by  the  nation,  made  de- 
pendent on  the  worldly  aims  of  a  wicked  and  ambi- 
tious king.  Henry  had  Avrested  an  ecclesiastical 
supremacy  from  the  Roiuan  pontiff,  only  to  retain  it 
in  his  own  hands.  He  had  denied  that  the  pope  was 
the  head  of  the  church,  only  that  he  might  proclaim 
himself  its  head.f    Henry  had  no  more  thought  of 

*  Burnet,  in  the  preface  to  his  rakiable  History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, speaking  of  the  advances  made  in  the  reformation  during 
Henry's  reign,  says,  "  There  was  still  an  alloy  of  other  corruptions, 
embarrassing  the  purity  of  the  faith.  And,  indeed,  in  the  whole, 
progress  of  these  changes,  the  king's  design  seems  to  have  been  to 
terrify  the  court  of  Rome,  and  cudgel  the  pope  into  a  compliance  with 
what  he  desired." 

t  The  session  of  parliament  held  in  1534,  enacted  "  That  the  king 
was  supreme  head  in  earth  of  the  Church  of  England,  which  was  to 
be  annexed  to  his  other  titles  ;  it  was  also  enacted  that  the  king  and 
his  heirs  and  successors  should  have  power  to  visit  and  reform  all  here- 
sies, errors  and  other  abuses,  which  in  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  ought 
to  be  reformed."  —  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref,  vol.  i.,  p.  256. 

The  laws  and  orders  issued  for  the  government  of  the  reformed 
church  of  England,  and  possessing  authority  to  bind  its  members, 
may  be  arranged  under  the  three  heads  of  legislative,  synodical,  and 
mandatory  ;  the  first  consisting  of  acts  of  parUament,  the  second  of 
decrees  of  synods  confirmed  by  the  sovereign,  and  the  third  of  the 
royal  mandates.  It  is  evident  that  in  all  these  cases  the  assent  of  the 
sovereign  is  indispensable  ;  and  in  the  language  of  law  as  well  as  of 
prerogative,  the  royal  pleasure  has  been  considered  as  the  source  of 
all  church  authority ;  and  the  diiferent  bodies  that  took  part  with  the 
crown  in  the  enactment  of  ecclesiastical  laws,  were  looked  upon 


KEFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PKOGKESS.  29 


favoring  religious  freedom  of  opinion  than  had  the 
pope.  He  absolved  the  people  from  thinking  as  the 
pope  thought,  but  not  from  thinking  as  he  thought. 
Hence  the  vacillating  character  of  the  reformation 

advisers  anil  counsellors,  to  be  employed  in  their  respective  capacities 
according  to  the  discretion  of  the  sovereign.  Thus  King  James  I.,  in 
his  proclamation  of  October,  1603,  respecting  the  alleged  corruptions 
of  the  church,  says:  "We  will  proceed  according  to  the  laws  and 
customs  of  this  realm,  by  advice  of  our  council,  or  in  our  high  court 
of  parliament,  or  by  convocation  of  our  clergy,  as  we  shall  find  reason 
lo  lead  us."  In  Sir  Edward  Coke's  Reports,  it  is  stated,  "  Albeit  the 
kings  of  England  derived  their  ecclesiastical  laws  from  others,  yet  so 
many  as  were  proved,  approved,  and  allowed  here,  by  and  with  a 
general  consent,  are  aptly  and  rightly  called  the  king's  ecclesiastical 
laws  of  England  :"  and  the  twelve  judges  declared,  m  the  year  1604, 
that  "  the  king,  without  parliament,  might  make  orders  and  constitu- 
lions  for  the  government  of  the  clergy,  and  might  deprive  them,  if 
they  obeyed  not." 

The  same  fact  is  expressed  by  Archbishop  Wake,  in  the  following 
manner :  "  I  say  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  prince  to  make  laws  in  mat- 
ters ecclesiastical :  and  for  the  doing  of  this  he  may  advise  with  his 
clergy,  and  follow  their  counsel,  so  far  as  he  approves  of  it.  Thus 
Charles  the  emperor  made  up  his  capitular ;  and  thus  any  other  sov- 
ereign prince  may  take  the  canons  of  the  church,  and  form  them  in 
such  wise  into  an  ecclesiastical  law,  as  he  thinks  will  be  most  for  the 
honor  of  God  and  the  good  of  his  people."    *    *    *  * 

The  supremacy  of  the  sovereign  rests  mamly  upon  the  statute  (1 
Eliz.,  c.  1)  which  "restored  to  the  crown  the  ancient  jurisdiction  over 
the  estate  ecclesiastical  and  spiritual,  and  abolished  all  foreign  powers 
repugnant  to  the  same."  By  that  statute  it  is  enacted,  that  "such 
jurisdictions,  privileges,  superiorities  anri  |.i  •  ii  iM  ih  spiritual  and 
ecclesiastical,  as  by  any  spiritual  or  et-clt  :  '  :  .  r  or  authority 
have  heretofore  been,  or  may  lawfully  1"        ^  'i  used  for  the 

visitation  of  the  ecclesiastical  stale  and  j)ci mi  ,  an. I  iiu-  reformation, 
order,  and  correction  of  the  same,  and  of  all  manner  of  errors,  here- 
sies, schisms,  abuses,  olTences,  contempts,  and  enormities,  shall  for- 
ever be  united  and  annexed  to  the  imperial  crown  of  this  realm."  By 
another  statute  of  the  same  period,  (1  Eliz.,  c.  2,  ^  26,)  the  sovereign 
was  empowered,  with  the  advice  of  commissioners,  or  of  the  metro- 
politan, to  ordain  additional  rites  and  ceremonies,  to  be  of  equal  force 
and  authority  with  those  already  onlaiucrl  hy  net  of  parliament. 

It  would  appear  from  the  priiiLi]i:il  m  i  ,.|  i  jaecn  Mary,  and  the 
statutes  repealed  by  it,  that  the  jn 1 1 ^  1  ictiou  in  England  was 

comprised  under  the  five  following  lu-ails  :  1.  He  was  acknowledged 
as  chief  bishop  of  the  Christian  church,  with  authority  to  reform  and 
redress  heresies,  errors,  and  abuses  in  the  same.  2.  To  him  belonged 
the  institution  or  confirmation  of  bishops  elect.  3.  He  could  grant  to 
clergymen  licenses  of  non-residence,  and  permission  to  hold  more 

3* 


30  REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PROGRESS. 


from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  It  was  in  great  part 
dependent  on  the  caprice  of  the  sovereign.  During 
Henry's  hfe,  it  went  forward  or  backward  just  as  his 
whims  or  his  ambition  led  him  to  favor  or  oppose  it. 

than  one  benefice.  4.  He  dispensed  in  the  canonical  impediments 
of  matrimony.  5.  He  received  appeals  from  the  spiritual  courts.  So 
that  the  supremacy  of  the  crown  in  this  respect  may  be  summed  up 
in  the  words  of  Hooker,  after  the  following  manner :  "  There  is  re- 
quired an  universal  power  which  reacheth  over  all,  importing  supreme 
authority  of  government  over  all  courts,  all  judges,  all  causes ;  the 
operation  of  which  power  is  as  well  to  strengthen,  maintain,  and  up- 
hold particular  jurisdictions,  which  haply  might  else  be  of  small 
efl'ect,  as  also  to  remedy  that  which  they  are  not  able  to  help,  and  to 
redress  that  wherein  they  at  any  time  do  otherwise  than  they  ought 
to  do.  This  power  being  some  time  in  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  who,  by 
sinister  practices,  had  drawn  it  into  his  hands,  was  for  just  considera- 
tions by  public  consent  annexed  unto  the  king's  royal  seat  and  crown. 
*  #  #  #  Our  laws  have  provided  that  the  king's  supereminent 
authority  and  power  shall  serve  :  as,  namely,  when  the  whole  ecclesi- 
astical state,  or  the  principal  persons  therein,  do  need  visitation  and 
reformation  :  when  in  any  part  of  the  church,  errors,  heresies,  schisms, 
abuses,  offences,  contempts,  enormities,  are  grown  which  men,  in 
their  several  jurisdictions,  either  do  not  or  cannot  help  :  whatsoever 
any  spiritual  authority  or  power,  (such  as  legates  from  the  see  of 
Rome  did  sometimes  exercise,)  hath  done  or  might  heretofore  have 
done  for  the  remedy  of  those  evils  in  lawful  sort,  (that  is  to  say,  with- 
out the  violation  of  the  law  of  God  or  nature  in  the  deed  done,)  as 
much  in  every  degree  our  laws  have  fully  granted  that  the  king  for- 
ever may  do,  not  only  by  setting  ecclesiastical  synods  on  work  that 
the  thing  may  be  their  act  and  the  king  their  motion  unto  it,  but  by 
commissioners  few  or  many,  who,  having  the  king's  letters  patents, 
may  in  the  virtue  thereof  execute  the  premises  as  agents  in  the  right, 
not  of  their  own  peculiar  and  ordinary,  but  of  his  supereminent 
power." 

Large,  however,  as  is  the  tield  allowed  by  the  statute  for  the  exercise 
of  the  supremacy,  its  boundary  is  made  more  indistinct,  and  at  last 
vanishes  in  the  distance,  when  we  include  within  it  the  further  range 
that  was  claimed  and  recognized  at  different  periods  of  our  history, 
under  the  title  of  the  king's  prerogative.  It  was  decided,  in  the  well- 
known  case  of  Cawdry,  that  the  act  of  supremacy  (1  Eliz.,  c.  1) 
"  was  not  a  statute  introductory  of  a  new  law,  but  declaratory  of  the 
old  ;"  and  that  if  it  had  never  been  enacted,  "  the  king  or  queen  of 
England  might  make  such  a  commission  as  is  there  provided,  by  the 
ancient  prerogative  and  law  of  England."  So  that,  independently 
of  the  powers  acknowledged  in  the  statute,  there  was  yet  in  reserve 
within  the  capacious  bosom  of  the  common  law,  an  undefined  author- 
ity, which  being  similar  in  its  character,  might  also  be  equal  in  its 
amount,  to  the  omnipotence  of  Rome. — CardmeWs  Annals  Ch.  of 
Eng.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  5 —  11. 


REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PROGRESS.  31 

The  church  had  cut  itself  off  from  the  possibiUty  of  a 
thorough  and  steadily  progressive  reformation,  by 
vesting  the  papal  authority  in  the  king,  and  by  thus 
retaining  an  arbitrary  earthly  head.  The  religious 
rights  of  the  people,  long  unrighteously  merged  in  the 
pope,  were  not,  when  wrested  away  from  him,  dis- 
tributed to  their  rightful  possessors.  At  one  time, 
Henry's  interest  required  him  to  favor  a  specific  re- 
form, and  again  to  oppose  and  repress  another.  And 
in  subsequent  reigns,  the  reformation  was  carried 
rapidly  forward,  and  again  well  nigh  destroyed  by 
the  elevation  to  the  throne  first  of  a  protestant,  then  of 
a  papist.  In  one  period.  Bibles  were  distributed,  com- 
munion tables  introduced,  pictures  taken  down  from 
the  walls  of  churches,  and  a  free  interchange  and 
expression  of  religious  opinion  everywhere  tolerated. 
In  another,  Bibles  contribute  to  papal  bonfires,  altars 
for  celebrating  the  mass  are  set  up,  pictures  are  again 
Avorshipped,  martyrs  alone  utter  their  opinions  freely, 
and  the  fires  of  the  stake  atford  the  only  light  in  the 
kingdom.  The  chief  difl3.culty  lay  in  the  fact  that,  in 
the  beginning,  the  king  took  the  management  of  the 
reformation  into  his  own  hands,  and  it  was  ever  after 
considered  a  matter  for  the  sovereign  to  manage,  in- 
stead of  the  divines  of  the  church.*    Hence  it  became 

*  These  statements  are  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  failure  of  the 
attempt  made  by  Melancthon  and  others  on  the  continent,  and  Craii- 
mer  and  his  associates  in  England,  to  strengthen  the '  protestant 
interest  by  uniting  the  German  and  English  reformers  in  a  joint 
confession  of  faith.  The  plan  originated  with  Melancthon,  and  was 
warmly  seconded  by  Cranmcr.  After  considerable  correspondence 
on  the  subject,  Melancthon,  in  1534,  was  invited  into  England  for 
the  purposes  of  assisting  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  alliance,  and  to 
prepare  a  joint  confession  of  faith.  He  did  not  comply  with  the  in- 
vitation, but  he  labored  to  prepare  the  way  for  effecting  the  pro- 
posed measures ;  and  in  1538,  a  mission,  consisting  of  three  distin- 
guished gentlemen,  was  sent  to  England  for  the  purposes  just 
named.  Cranmcr,  and  other  bishops  and  divines,  having  been 
directed  to  confer  with  them,  the  Augsburg  confession  was  selected 


32         REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PROGRESS. 


a  question  of  state  policy,*  rather  than  one  of  religious 
reform.  The  power,  weaUh,  and  aggrandizement  of 
the  nation  was  the  leading  aim,  and  the  renovation  and 
purity  of  the  church  were  secondary  objects.  The 
facts  of  history,  and  the  necessities  of  the  case,  speak 
the  same  general  truth,  and  declare  alike  the  subser- 
viency of  the  religious  reformation  to  the  national  glory. 
The  English  nation  never  committed  a  sadder  or  more 
fatal  mistake,  than  when  its  high  priests  celebrated  the 
banns  of  marriage  between  the  church  and  the  state. 
This  is  the  fundamental  error  which  underlies  all  their 
subsequent  mistakes — the  marriage  which  has  given 
to  the  world  a  most  unnatural  progeny  in  every  gen- 
eration since.  For  when  such  a  union  is  once  com- 
pleted, the  church  must  become  the  mere  handmaid  of 
the  state — its  servant,  not  its  mistress.  The  pride  of 
the  state  and  the  humility  of  the  church  concur  in  giv- 

as  the  ground-work  of  their  proceeding,  with  the  understanding  that 
the  articles  of  faith  should  first  be  settled,  and  then  that  the  abuses  of 
the  church  should  be  considered.  Having  brought  the  first  division  of 
their  labor  to  an  amicable  issue,  the  ambassadors  urged  upon  Craii- 
mer  the  importance  of  taking  up  immediately  the  abuses  of  the 
church.  Cranmer  gave  his  full  consent,  but  the  other  bishops  de- 
clined, on  the  plea  that  the  king  was  about  to  mite  on  the  points  in  dis- 
pute, and  it  wonld  be  improper  for  them  to  anticipate  him,  lest  they  should 
express  sentiments  which  his  royal  highness  would  not  approve.  Thus,  a 
confederacy,  which  might  have  resulted  in  giving  to  England  a  more 
unequivocal  protestantism,  and  to  the  church  a  protestant  league  which 
might  before  this  have  driven  Romanism  from  the  earth,  was  pre- 
vented. An  account  of  this  movement  will  be  found  in  the  fourth 
vol.  of  Burnet's  History  of  the  Reformation ;  also,  with  less  fulness, 
in  the  first  vol.  of  Strype's  Annals  Ref. 

*  Maurice,  in  his  "  Kingdom  of  Christ,"  a  work  which  combines 
the  tractarian  and  transcendental  theologie?,  tells  occasionally  an 
honest  truth,  in  quite  a  philosophical  way.  He  says,  "  While  I  have 
maintained  that  the  protestant  principles  are  inseparably  connected, 
and  that  all  are  imphcitly  contained  in  the  first,  [justification  by 
faith,]  I  have  hinted  also  that  they  presented  themselves  in  quite  dif- 
ferent aspects  and  relations  to  the  diflerent  reformers.  Justification 
was  the  central  thought  in  Luther's  mind,  election  in  Calvin's,  the 
authority  of  the  Scriptures  in  Zuingle's,  the  authority  of  sovereigns  in 
all  the  political  patrons  of  protestantism,  and  in  some  of  its  theological 
champions,  especially  here  in  England." —  p.  105. 


REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PROGRESS.  33 

ing  the  supremacy  to  the  former.  The  interests  of  the 
state,  therefore,  must  first  be  looked  after ;  and  any 
reformation  in  the  church  can  only  be  allowed  when 
the  interests  of  the  state  require  or  tolerate  it.  It  need 
excite  no  surprise,  therefore,  that  the  reformation  was 
accidental  in  its  Avhole  course.  It  could  not  be  other- 
wise. The  church's  espousal  to  the  state  had  given 
her  a  menial  position,  and  subordinated  her  interests 
to  those  of  a  higher  power.  She  had  permitted  her- 
self to  be  sold  into  bondage — had  entered  into  the  ser- 
vice of  a  master  who  would  not  divide  with  her  the 
rights  of  supremacy.  She  could  expect  no  less  than 
that  her  claims  should  be  secondary  to  those  of  her 
liege  lord. 

In  expressing  these  thoughts,  of  course  I  shall  not  be 
accused  of  saying  or  insinuating  aught  to  the  discredit 
of  the  divines  of  the  English  church,  whose  hearts 
were  in  the  reformation.  Certainly,  I  cannot  be 
thought  to  entertain  other  than  feelings  of  the  highest 
respect  for  such  men  as  Cranmer,  who  at  the  stake 
voluntarily  thrust  his  right  hand  into  the  flame,  say- 
ing, "  That  unworthy  hand,"  because  it  had  signed  a 
false  declaration  of  his  faith;  as  Hooper,  who  died  in 
the  flames  with  the  words  of  the  martyr  Stephen  upon 
his  lips;  as  Ridley,  who  said  to  his  fellow-sufierer, 
"  Be  of  good  heart,  brother,  for  God  will  either  assuage 
the  fury  of  the  flame,  or  enable  us  to  abide  it ;"  as  Lati- 
mer, who,  in  like  trying  circumstances,  said — "We 
shall  this  day  light  such  a  candle  in  England  as  I 
trust  by  God's  grace  shall  never  be  put  out;" — men 
of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  and  to  whom  God 
granted,  as  to  Elijah  of  old,  the  special  favor  of  being 
carried  to  heaven  in  chariots  of  fire.  These,  and  nu- 
merous others,  were  among  the  salt  of  the  earth. 
They  shed  a  lustre,  such  as  is  seldom  shed,  upon  the 


34         REFORMATION  ACCIDENTAL  IN  ITS  PROGRESS. 


christian  name.  But  they  were  the  servants  of  a  mis- 
tress who  was  in  bondage.  The  church,  at  whose 
ahars  they  served,  liad  espoused  herself  to  a  kingdom 
which  was  of  this  world.  They  were  in  heart  true  to 
their  heavenly  King ;  but  the  iron  will  of  an  earthly 
master  often  stopped  them  in  their  course,  and  held 
back  their  hands  from  the  work  they  desired  to  do.* 
Our  Lord  has  forewarned  his  people  that  they  cannot 
serve  two  masters ;  and  the  experience  of  these  excel- 
lent men  shows  that  there  was  deep  philosophy  in  the 
remark.  They  often  would  do  good,  but  evil — an  evil 
worldly  power — was  present  to  restrain  and  hinder 
them.  The  example  furnishes  a  warning  to  the 
church  never  again  to  link  herself  to  the  state,  or  in 
any  way  to  form  an  alliance  with  the  world.  She  has 
a  Master  in  heaven,  who  will  not  justify  her  in  becom- 
ing the  servant  of  another. 

*  •'  They  [the  reformers]  had  exposed  the  errors  and  renounced  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  court  of  Rome ;  but  the  powers  it  had  exercised 
were  transferred,  asof  necessit}',  to  their  sovereign,  and  no  inquiry  was 
made  whether  some  of  them  were  not  part  of  his  original  prerogative, 
and  others  inconsistent  with  the  nature  of  his  office.  It  appeared  as  if 
the  Cliurch  of  England,  having  drifted  away  from  the  shores  of  the 
papacy,  was  treated  by  the  statesmen  of  these  times  as  a  waif  or  an 
esiray,  and  claimed,  lilie  all  other  bona  vacuntin,  as  the  property  of  the 
crown.  With  respect,  then,  to  the  future  condition  and  the  positive 
reformation  of  the  national  church,  the  powers  of  the  reformers  were 
at  an  end  as  soon  as  they  had  shaken  ofi'  the  tyranny  of  Eome."  — 
CardrveU's  History  of  Conferences,  and  other  proceedings  connected  with 
the  revision  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


35 


CHAPTER  m. 

THE  ENGLISH  REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  DOCTRINES. 

It  would  be  saying  too  much  to  affirm  that  the  great 
doctrines  of  the  gospel  were  not  asserted,  and  strongly- 
set  forth,  in  the  preaching  and  the  writings  of  the  re- 
formers of  the  English  commimion.  In  this  respect, 
they  Avere,  perhaps,  fully  as  clear  and  intelligently 
sound  as  the  reformers  on  the  continent.  My  charge 
against  them  is,  not  that  they  did  not  hold  the  truth, 
but  that  they  did  not  hold  it  in  a  state  of  separation 
from  error.  They  restored  all  the  truths  which  the 
Roman  church  had  lost;  but  they  did  not  reject  all 
the  errors  which  that  wicked  communion  had  intro- 
duced. Thus,  while  they  combined  in  their  teachings 
all  the  protestant  elements  of  a  true  gospel,  they  min- 
gled with  them  enough  of  the  popish  element  of  a  false 
gospel  to  neutralize  in  part  their  heavenly  influences, 
and  to  hinder  their  free  and  benign  action  upon  the 
world. 

1.  My  first  charge  against  the  English  reformers 
relates  to  the  views  held  and  inculcated  respecting  the 
canon  of  Scripture.*  On  this  point,  I  shall  draw  my 
evidence  from  but  one  source,  and  that  of  such  author- 
ity that  all  will  regard  it  as  sufficient.  I  refer  to  the 
first  and  second  books  of  homilies.  Of  these  books  the 
XXX Vth  article  thus  speaks  :  "  The  second  book  of 

*  It  is  well  known  that  the  Roman  church  makes  the  canon  of 
Scriptures  consist,  not  merely  of  the  written  word  received  by  prot- 
estants,  but  of  a  body  of  written  and  unwritten  tradition  also  ;  and 
that  to  these  combined,  it  adds  the  whole  of  the  books  called  the 
apocrypha.  The  written  Scriptures,  tradition,  and  the  apocrypha, 
make  up  the  Roman  Catholic's  scriptural  canon. 


36        REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  DOCTRINES. 

homilies,  the  several  titles  whereof  we  have  joined, 
under  this  article,  doth  contain  a  godly  and  whole- 
some doctrine,  and  necessary  for  these  times,  as  doth 
the  former  book  of  homilies,  which  were  set  forth  in 
the  time  of  Edward  the  Sixth ;  and  therefore  we  judge 
them  to  be  read  in  churches  by  the  ministers,  dili- 
gently and  distinctly,  that  they  may  be  imderstanded 
of  the  people."  To  this  article  the  American  Episco- 
pal church  has  added  these  words :  "  This  article  is 
received  in  this  church,  so  far  as  it  declares  the  books 
of  homilies  to  be  an  explication  of  christian  doctriney 
and  instructive  in  piety  and  morals." 

These  books  are,  therefore,  one  of  the  standards  of 
doctrine  of  highest  authority  in  the  Episcopal  church. 
Now  listen  to  the  allusions  which  they  make  inciden- 
tally to  passages  contained  in  the  apocrypha. 

"  Let  us  learn  also  here  [in  the  Book  of  Wisdom,  one 
of  the  apocryphal  books,  vi.  1 — 3]  by  the  infallible 
and  undeceivable  word  of  God,"  &c.,  Homilies,  1  B.,  x. 
1,  p.  97.*  "  As  the  word  of  God  testifieth.  Wisdom 
xiv."  2  B.,  ii.  3,  p.  198.  "So  is  the  weakness,  vile- 
ness,  and  foolishness,  in  device  of  the  images,  (where- 
by we  have  dishonored  him,)  expressed  at  large  in  the 
Sa-iptwes,  namely,  the  Psalms,  the  book  of  Wisdom, 
the  prophet  Esaias,"  &x;.   2  B.,  i.  1,  p.  164. 

"  The  same  lesson  doth  the  Holy  Ghost  also  teach 
in  sundry  places  of  Scripture,  saying,  'mercifulness 
and  alms-giving,' "  &c.  Tobit  iv.,  10.  2  B.,  xi.,  2,  p. 
346. 

The  wise  preacher,  the  son  of  Sirach,  confirmeth  the 
same,  when  he  says,  "  As  water  quencheth  burning 

*  My  first  intention  was  to  take  some  of  the  passages  selected  by- 
Mr.  Newman  in  Tract  ex. ;  but  discovering  a  few  of  his  quotations 
to  be  incorrect  and  dishonest,  like  his  explanation  of  the  articles,  I 
threw  them  aside,  and  have  made  my  quotations  directly  from  the 
late  American  edition  of  the  homilies. 


REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  DOCTRINES.  37 


fire,"  &c.  "The  rude  people,  who  specially  as  the 
Scripture  teacheth.  Wisdom  xiii.  and  xiv.,  are  in  dan- 
ger of  superstition  and  idolatry,"  &c.  2  B.,  ii.  3,  p. 
216.    Ecclesiasticus  iii.  30. 

The  homilies  also,  after  quoting  these,  and  some 
passages  from  the  fathers,  add  these  words,  — ' '  Thus  we 
are  taught  by  the  Scriptures  and  ancient  doctors,"  &c. 
2  B.,  Horn,  ix.,  p.  322. 

Here,  in  a  volume  next  in  authority  to  the  prayer- 
book,  is  a  very  clear  and  repeated  recognition  of  the 
apocrypha  as  a  part  of  the  canon  of  Scripture,  a  doc- 
trine most  thoroughly  and  perniciously  unprotestant. 

2.  My  second  charge  relates  to  justification  and  re- 
generation. The  English  reformers  connected  both 
with  baptism,  after  the  manner  of  the  Roman  church. 
I  again  sustain  my  position  by  quotations  from  the 
homilies. 

"Our  office  is,  not  to  pass  the  time  of  this  present 
life  unfruitfully  and  idly,  after  that  we  are  baptized  or 
justified"  &c.    1  B.,  iii.  3,  p.  26. 

"  The  order  or  decree  made  by  the  elders  for  wash- 
ing oft-times,  which  was  diligently  observed  of  the 
Jews;  yet  tending  to  superstition,  our  Saviour  Christ 
altered  and  changed  the  same  in  his  church,  into  a 
profitable  sacrament,  the  sacrament  of  our  regeueratioii 
or  new  birth."    2  B.,  iv.  2.  p.  258. 

"  We  be  therefore  was/ted  in  our  baptism  from  the 
fiUhiness  of  sin,  that  we  should  live  afterwards  in  the 
pureness  of  life."    2  B.,  xiii.  1,  p.  369. 

Speaking  of  the  house  of  God,  the  homilies  say, 
"  The  fountain  of  our  generation  is  there  presented 
[ministered]  unto  us."    2  B.,  iii.,  p.  245. 

It  will  not  be  needful  to  enter  into  any  labored  proof 
that  these  passages  convey  a  doctrine  which  is  not 
protestant.  Enough  to  know  that  Rome  says,  speak- 
4 


38         REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  DOCTRINES. 

ing  of  justification,  "The  instrumental  cause  is  the 
sacrament  of  baptism,  without  which  justification 
comes  to  none."  It  admits  of  no  doubt  that  these  re- 
formers bcheved  that  regeneration, — inward,  spiritual 
regeneration,  not  merely  sacramental, — is  effected  in 
the  waters  of  baptism.  They  believed  that  the  act  of 
consecrating  the  water  infused  it  with  the  Spirit,  or 
endowed  it  with  power  to  convey  the  germs  or  begin- 
nings of  spiritual  life.  This  doctrine  is  abundantly 
taught  in  the  prayer-book,  and  in  the  writings  of  Eng- 
lish divines,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  show  in  a  sub- 
sequent part  of  this  discussion. 

3.  I  charge  still  further  upon  the  English  reformers, 
that  they  held  not  only  Romish  opinions  as  to  the  na- 
ture  and  efficacy  of  the  sacraments,  as  shown  above, 
but  that  their  views  were  indistinct  and  unsettled  as  to 
their  number.  Referring  again  to  the  homilies,  the 
reader  may  find  such  language  as  this : 

"  By  holy  promises,  with  calling  the  name  of  God  to 
witness,  we  be  made  lively  members  of  Christ,  when 
we  profess  his  religion  receiving  the  sacrament  of  bap- 
tism. By  like  holy  promise  the  sacrament  of  matri- 
mony knitteth  man  and  wife  in  perpetual  love."  1  B., 
vii.  1,  p.  64. 

The  homilies  do  indeed  contain  passages  which  seem 
to  contradict  this  clear  statement,  and  to  imply  that  the 
writers  did  not  hold  the  Roman  doctrine  of  seven  sacra- 
ments. Their  sentiments  respecting  the  sacraments 
seem,  in  fact,  to  have  been  confused  and  obscure.  They 
did  not  regard  matrimony,  orders,  &c.,  '■'■such  sacraments 
as  baptism  and  the  communion  are ;"  yet  they  viewed 
them  as,  to  a  certain  extent,  sacramental  ordinances. 
In  short,  they  had  retreated  about  as  far  from  Roman- 
ism, in  some  respects,  as  the  tractarians  have  from 
protestantism ;  and  were  holding,  somewhere  between 


REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  DOCTRINES.  39 


the  two  systems,  a  kind  of  "sacramental  theology," 
minus  a  number  of  the  papal  adjuncts. 

4.  The  minds  of  these  reformers  seem  not  to  have 
been  purged  of  Roman  views  of  the  authority  of  the 
ancient  church  and  fathers.  liCt  the  homilists  utter 
their  sentiments  once  more. 

"Contrary  to  the  which  most  manifest  doctrine  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  contrary  to  the  usage  of  the  primi- 
tive church,  which  was  most  pure  and  uncorrupt,  and 
contrary  to  the  sentences  and  judgments  of  the  most 
ancient,  learned,  and  godly  doctors  of  the  church."  2 
B.,  ii.  1,  p.  158. 

"Epiphanius,  a  bishop  and  doctor  of  such  antiquity 
and  authority.''^  2  B.,  ii.  2,  p.  174.  This  short  pas- 
sage gives  but  a  slight  idea  of  the  extravagant  manner 
in  which  this  homily  speaks  of  Epiphanius.  The 
reader  will  do  well  to  consult  the  whole  passage. 

"It  shall  be  declared,  both  by  God's  word,  and  the 
sente7ices  of  the  ancient  doctors,  and  judgment  of  the 
primitive  church,"  &jC.    2  B.,  ii.  3,  p.  193. 

"  That  the  law  of  God  is  likewise  to  be  understood 
against  all  our  images,  as  well  of  Christ  as  his  saints, 
in  temples  and  churches,  appeareth  further  by  the  judg- 
ment of  the  doctors,  and  the  primitive  church."  2  B., 
ii.  3,  p.  197. 

"  The  primitive  church  ichich  is  specially  to  be  fol- 
loived,  as  most  incorrupt  and  pure.  Thus  it  is  declared 
by  God's  word,  the  sentences  of  the  doctors,  and  the 
judgment  of  the  primitive  church."  2  B.,  ii.  3,  p.  199. 
"  Thus  you  see  that  the  authority  both  of  the  Scripture, 
and  also  of  Augustine,  doth  not  permit  that  we  should 
pray  unto  them."    2  B.,  vii.  2,  p.  290. 

To  show  the  unsoundness  of  these  views  belongs  to 
anotlier  branch  of  the  subject.  I  therefore  pass  them 
here  without  comment. 


40         REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  DOCTRINES. 

These  quotations  afford  a  striking  comment  on  a 
truth  which  may  several  times  come  out  in  this  discus- 
sion, namely,  that  the  English  reformation,  the  prayer- 
book,  the  homilies,  and  the  teachings  of  the  English 
divines,  are,  and  have  been,  remarkable  for  the  min- 
gling of  the  Roman  Catholic  and  protestant  elements.* 
At  almost  every  point,  the  glorious  truths  of  the  gospel 
are  shining  out,  and  side  by  side  with  them  are  found 
the  traces,  and  sometimes  the  body  and  substance,  of 
Roman  error. 

The  propriety  of  quoting  from  the  homilies  in  this 
chapter  will  be  manifest  when  it  is  considered  that 
they  were  written  by  Crannier  and  Ridley,  are  reck- 
oned among  the  symbolical  writings  of  the  church  of 
England,  and  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in 
the  United  States,  and  are  said  by  one  of  our  articles 
of  religion  to  "contain  a  godly  and  wholesome  doc- 
trine." 

*  When  I  had  nearly  completed  the  writing  of  this  volume,  Isaac 
Taylor's  profound  and  learned  work,  entitled  "  Ancient  Christianity," 
fell  into  my  hands ;  and  as  the  author  is  a  member  of  the  church  of 
England,  I  am  happy  to  strengthen  the  above  statement  by  the  fol- 
lowing quotation  : 

"  The  worship,  the  sacramental  notions,  and  the  feelings  of  the  Af- 
rican church  of  the  times  of  Cyprian,  furnish,  as  I  think,  the  ideal 
model  which  the  founders  of  the  English  church  held  in  their  view. 
With  these  notions  and  practises,  wliich  affect  the  '  offices,'  were  min- 
gled the  very  incongruous  materials  proper  to  the  continental  reforma- 
tion—  I  mean  those  energetic,  evangelic  principles,  which  gave  life  to 
the  preaching  of  Luther  and  his  colleagues.  Almost  an  utter  dissimi- 
larity distinguishes  the  Christianity  of  Luther  from  that  of  Cyprian  ; 
—  and  yet  elements  of  both  are  bound  together  in  the  English 

PKAYER-BOOK  AND  HOMILIES  ! 

"From  this  source  have  arisen,  from  time  to  time,  differences 
which  no  ingenuity  of  explanation  can  ever  avail  to  reconcile,  and 
feuds  to  which,  in  the  nature  of  things,  no  method  of  pacification  can 
be  applied.  All  may  indeed  seem  to  go  well  during  seasons  of  uni- 
versal slumber;  but  at  the  moment  of  a  revival  of  religious  feeling, 
from  whatever  quarter  it  springs,  the  old  interminable  strife  wakes 
up,  and  threatens  an  open  schism." — Ancient  Christianity,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
109. 


41 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TUE  REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  USAGES. 

Numerous  passages  from  the  homilies  have  been 
produced  as  documentary  evidence  that  the  Enghsh 
reformation  was  doctrinally  incomplete.  I  now  ad- 
vance another  step,  and  view  it  as  it  presents  itself  in 
its  outward  ceremonial. 

This  reformation  was  emphatically  a  gradual  work. 
Begun  under  accidental  circumstances,  it  had  to  urge 
its  way  through  constant  embarrassments,  and  was 
effected  only  by  a  slow  and  uncertain  process.  In- 
deed, it  seems  to  have  been  gradual  intentionally,  so 
far  as  there  was  any  intention  about  it.  It  was  grad- 
ual intentionally,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  show  in  a 
subsequent  chapter,  with  the  view  of  silencing  the  ob- 
jections of  those  papistically  inclined,  and  of  keeping 
them  satisfied  with  an  amount  of  papal  appearances^ 
at  least,  still  remaining.  It  does  not  appear,  however, 
but  that  the  promoters  of  it  among  the  clergy  hoped 
that  every  Romish  peculiarity  would  ultimately  be  re- 
moved. But  they  differed  much  as  to  present  ac- 
tion in  reference  to  many  points.  Thus,  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  VI.,  Hooper,  one  of  the  most  zealous  and 
faithful  preachers  of  the  time,  and  who  was  burnt  in 
the  reign  of  Mary,  was  conscientiously  opposed  to 
wearing  the  "popish  habits,"  the  surplice  included; 
whereas  Cranmer  and  Ridley  were  at  that  time  so  much 
set  upon  their  use,  that  they  silenced  Hooper,  and  re- 
fused to  consecrate  him  to  a  bishopric  unless  he  would 
4* 


42  REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  USAGES. 

use  them.*  Had  he  lived  a  Uttle  later,  he  would  have 
been  ranked  among  the  puritans.  He  was,  in  fact,  the 
first  puritan ;  that  is,  he  was  the  first  minister  in  the 
church  of  England  who  advocated  an  entire  imnfica- 
tion  of  the  church  from  the  errors  and  usages  of  the 
Romish  communion. 

During  the  reign  of  Mary,  when  the  Roman  faith 
was  restored,  many  of  the  bishops  and  divines  fled  to 
the  continent  to  escape  the  flames  of  martyrdom. 
During  their  absence,  they  of  course  cherished  the 
strongest  desire  to  see  their  native  country  rid  of  all  the 
corruptions  of  popery;  and  when  Elizabeth  came  to 
the  throne,  and  the  time  was  approaching  for  their  joy- 
ful return  to  England,  those  who  had  taken  refuge  at 
Frankfort  became  extremely  anxious  as  to  the  course 
which  would  be  taken  at  home  in  regard  to  "ceremo- 
nies;" and  on  the  3d  of  January,  1559,  they  wrote  to 
others  of  their  brethren  who  had  sheltered  themselves 
from  the  storm  at  Geneva,  for  the  purpose  of  having 
some  mutual  understanding  as  to  Avhat  course  they 
should  pursue  on  this  subject  when  they  reached  their 
native  home.  They  said  to  their  brethren,  that  what- 
ever ceremonies  should  be  retained,  they  should  have 
no  hand  in  their  establishment ;  they  hoped  they  should 
not  be  burthened  with  them;  but  if  disappointed  in 
this,  they  thought  it  best  to  submit;  but  they  would 
be  ready  to  join  with  their  brethren  in  becoming  "suit- 
ors for  the  reformation  and  abolishing  of  the  same." 
James  Pilkington,  soon  after  the  learned  and  zealous 
bishop  of  Duresme,  was  one  of  the  signers  of  this  let- 
ter. Strype  says,t  "And  the  first  bishops  that  were 
made,  and  who  were  but  newly  returned  out  of  their 

*  Warner's  Ecclesiastical  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  280. —  Bogue  and  Ben- 
nett's Dissenters, 
t  Annals  of  the  Ref.,  vol.  i.,  p.  177. 


REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  USAGES.  43 

exiles,  as  Cox,  Grindal,  Home,  Sandys,  Jewel,  Park- 
hurst,  Bentham,  upon  their  first  returns,  before  they 
entered  upon  their  ministry,  labored  all  they  could 
against  receiving  into  the  church  the  papistical  habits, 
and  that  all  the  ceremonies  should  be  clean  laid  aside. 
But  they  coidd,  not  obtain  it  from  the  queen  and  par- 
liament. And  the  habits  were  enacted.  Then  they 
concerted  together  what  to  do,  being  in  some  doubt 
whether  to  enter  into  their  functions.''''  Strype  also 
says,  "  As  for  the  other  ceremonies  used  in  the  Roman 
church,  these  our  divines  could  have  been  contented  at 
this  juncture  to  have  been  without,  observing  what 
jealousies  were  taken  at  them ;  and  that  there  might 
not  be  the  least  compliance  with  the  popish  devotions. 
Bishop  Jewel,  in  a  letter  dated  in  February,  1559,  to 
Bulinger,  said,  "  The  surplice  moved  weak  minds,  and 
that  for  his  part  he  wished  that  the  very  slightest  foot- 
steps of  popery  might  be  taken  away,  both  out  of  the 
church,  and  out  of  the  minds  of  men.  But  the  queen," 
he  said,  "could  at  that  time  bear  no  change  in  reli- 
gion." *  The  excellent  archbishop  Sandys  said  in  his 
last  will  and  testament,  "I  am  now,  and  ever  have 
been,  persuaded  that  some  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
are  not  expedient  for  this  church  now ;  but  that  in  the 
church  reformed,  and  in  all  this  time  of  the  gospel,  they 
may  better  be  disused  by  little  and  little  than  more  and 
more  urged." 

On  the  authorities,  then,  of  bishops  Jewel,  Pilking- 
ton,  Cox,  Grindal,  Horne,  Sandys,  Parkhurst  and  Ben- 
tham, I  assert,  that,  in  the  matter  of  ceremonies,  the 
reformation  was  not  completed ;  for  the  surplice,  which 
Jewel  ranks  among  the  "footsteps  of  popery;"  the 
habits,  the  surplice  included,  which  Strype,  the  emi- 


*  Annals  of  the  Ref.,  vol.  i.,  p.  177. 


44  REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  USAGES. 

nent  historian,  calls  the  "papistical  habits;"  and  a 
variety  of  other  ceremonies  which  they  all  "  labored 
all  they  could"  to  have  "clean  laid  aside,"  were  re- 
tained. All  these  ceremonies,  too,  would  have  been 
removed  but  for  the  queen,  who,  Jewel  said,  could 
bear  no  change  in  religion  beyond  that  which  was 
made.  And  the  question  fairly  arises  here,  who  was 
right,  the  half  papist  queen  Elizabeth,  or  the  reformed 
bishops  just  named?  The  queen  said  the  reformation 
was  carried  far  enough,  that  it  was  completed,  and 
should  go  no  further.  The  bishops  said,  the  "  footsteps 
of  popery"  were  not  blotted  out,  and  that  the  remains 
of  Romanism  ought  to  be  "  clean  laid  aside."  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  declare  for  the  bishops ;  though  the  greater 
part  of  my  episcopal  friends  now  take  sides  with  the 
queen,  and  think  some  portion  of  the  "papistical  hab- 
its" the  most  becoming  in  the  world.  I  am  aware 
that  queen  Elizabeth  was  very  fond  of  showy  things ; 
but  I  never  could  learn  that  she  used  stronger  argu- 
ments for  retaining  a  white  linen  surplice  than  these 
eminent  divines  employed  for  laying  it  aside.  I  shall 
feel,  at  all  events,  when  I  come,  by  and  by,  to  urge 
good  philosophical  reasons  why  it  should  now  be  aban- 
doned, that  I  am  supported  by  better  authorities  than 
that  of  a  half  reformed  and  tyrannical  queen.  If  these 
ceremonies  ought  to  be  retained,  then  it  was  fortunate 
that  the  sovereign  had  been  made  the  head  of  the 
church,  for  it  was  only  in  consequence  of  this  that  they 
were  saved.  Let  the  lovers  of  the  surplice  never  for- 
get their  obligations  to  queen  Elizabeth,  who  saved 
their  "papistical  habit"  from  the  oblivion  into  which 
these  eminent  bishops  would  have  cast  it.* 

*  The  committee  of  divines  appointed  in  the  beginning  of  Eliza- 
beth's reign,  to  revise  the  prayer-book,  presented  a  new  book  to  Sir 
William  Cecil,  accompanied  with  a  paper  by  Guest,  a  distinguished 


REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  USAGES.  45 

Notwithstanding  that  these  divines  were  foiled  in 
their  attempt  to  make  a  "dean"  sweep  of  the  ceremo- 
nies, they  still  decided  to  "enter  into  their  functions," 
hoping  that  the  time  would  come  when  a  more  thor- 
oughly protestant  feeling  would  prevail  with  the  head 
of  the  church,  to  consent  to  a  removal  of  the  last  re- 
mains of  the  "  popish  devotions."  Constant  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  ministerial  duties,  they  were  also  busy 
in  urging  a  further  reformation,  particularly  in  regard 
to  "ceremonies;"  and  three  years  after  their  return 
from  abroad,  the  great  convocation  of  the  clergy  was 
called  together,  in  which  the  articles  of  religion  were 
adopted,  and  other  matters  were  debated  and  arranged. 
Previous  to  the  meeting  of  this  body,  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury  prepared,  or  procured  to  be  prepared,  a 
paper,  embracing  such  matters  as  were  expected  to 
come  before  the  convocation.  The  matter  embraced 
in  this  paper  related  to  "doctrines,"  "rites,"  and  "ec- 
clesiastical laws  and  discipline."  Under  the  head  of 
rites,  the  paper  proposed  that  "  the  use  of  vestments, 
copes  and  surplices,  be  from  henceforth  taken  away." 
When  the  matter  of  rites  and  ceremonies  came  before  the 
convocation,  bishop  Sandys  brought  in  a  paper,  wherein 
he  advised  that  her  majesty  be  moved  that  "  the  collect 

divine,  setting  forth  the  reasons  which  had  induced  him  to  assent  to 
several  of  the  alterations.    A  distinguished  writer  says  : 

"  But  the  fact  of  greatest  interest  which  we  learn  from  this  docu- 
ment is,  that  after  the  divines  had  completed  their  work,  and  delivered 
it  to  Sir  W.  Cecil,  some  important  changes  were  still  made,  before  the 
book  received  the  sanction  of  the  legislature.  It  is  supposed  by  some 
that  these  changes  were  introduced  during  its  progress  through  the 
legislature  ;  btit  it  if  more  probable,  from  the  known  sentiments  and  subse- 
quent conduct  of  the  queen,  that  they  were  inserted  previoiisbj  by  herself 
and  her  council.  This,  however,  is  certain,  that  the  committee  of  di- 
vines disapproved  of  any  distinction  as  to  the  use  of  vestments,  be- 
tween the  celebration  of  the  communion  and  the  other  services  of  the 
church ;  and  by  a  still  bolder  act  of  concession,  left  it  to  every  man's 
choice  to  communicate  either  standing  or  kneeling :  both  these 
changes,  however,  were  withdrawn  before  the  book  was  eventually 
published." — CardweWs  Hist,  of  Conferences,  pp.  21,  22. 


46  REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  USAGES. 

for  crossing  the  infant  in  the  forehead  may  be  blotted 
out.  As  it  seems  very  sujjcrstitious,  so  it  is  not  needful." 
There  was  put  in  also  a  request  from  certain  members 
of  the  lower  house,  signed  by  thirty-three  in  number,  to 
the  effect,  among  other  things,  that  the  cross  in  baptism 
miglit  be  laid  aside ;  that  the  use  of  copes  and  surplices 
might  be  taken  away ;  that  all  saints'  and  holy-days, 
except  such  as  relate  to  Christ,  be  rejected,  as  tejiding 
to  supersliiion,  &IJ:,.  These  articles  were  earnestly  de- 
bated, and  when  passed  upon,  fifty-eight  voted  for 
them,  and  fifty-nine  against  them.  Of  those  present^ 
however,  forty-three  voted  for  the  propositions,  and 
thirty-five  against  them.  They  were  lost  by  jivoxy 
votes.  The  main  objection  urged  against  them  was, 
that  they  were  contrary  to  the  book  of  common  prayer, 
which  had  been  settled  by  act  of  parliament.*  It  is 
plain  that  the  opinion  of  the  convocation  was  against 
the  usages  which  these  articles  aimed  to  abolish ;  but 
they  were  enacted  by  parliament,  and  the  queen  was 
known  to  be  averse  to  their  removal ;  and  so  the  "  cer- 
emonies "  were  saved  again  by  the  half-reformed  queen. 
I  ask  again,  who  was  right,  the  convocation  of  the 
clergy,  or  the  queen  7  By  the  decision  of  this  convo- 
cation, the  church  was  not  fully  reformed  in  the  matter 
of  ceremonies. 

From  this  time  forward,  open  remonstrances  against 
the  papal  ceremonies  were  greatly  increased.  Many 
of  the  most  pious  as  well  as  the  most  learned  men  in 
the  church  became  earnest  opposers  of  them,  alleging 
that  they  were  vestiges  of  the  papal  system,  tending 
only  to  the  begetting  of  feelings  and  sentiments  in  har- 
mony with  a  cast-off  and  rejected  rehgion.  Indeed,  so 
general  was  the  dissatisfaction  with  them,  that  the 

*  Strype's  Annals  of  the  Ref.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  316  —  339.  Burnet's  Hist. 
Eef.,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  451  —  5.    Warner,  vol.  ii.,  p.  429. 


REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  USAGES.  47 

London  Christian  Observer  says,  (and  several  histories 
which  I  have  examined  confirm  the  statement,)  a  large 
portion  of  the  preaching  clergy  scrupled  at  the  ceremo- 
nies, so  that  nearly  thirty  years  after  the  establishment 
of  the  reformation,  there  were  only  about  two  thousand 
preachers  for  ten  thousand  parish  churches. 

The  limits  assigned  to  this  branch  of  the  subject 
do  not  allow  of  reciting  the  numerous  instances  in 
which  a  strong  expression  of  opinion  against  the  re- 
mains of  popery  was  called  forth.  It  is  indeed  true 
that  the  supporters  of  them  became  more  and  more  nu- 
merous every  year,  and  more  intolerant  towards  their 
opposers.  The  attentive  student  of  history  may  find  a 
reason  for  this  in  the  patronage  and  encouragement 
they  received  from  the  sovereigns,  who,  through  sev- 
eral successive  reigns,  were  the  firm  supporters  of  the 
"ceremonies." 

Passing  over  other  attempts  to  reform  the  prayer- 
book,  made  by  the  best  men  in  the  establishment,  I 
will  merely  invite  the  reader's  attention  to  a  move- 
ment in  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary,  to  effect  a 
comprehension*  with  the  nonconformists.  Several  of 
the  most  eminent  bishops,  lamenting  the  folly  which 
defeated  the  attempted  comprehension  at  the  Savoy 
conference,  in  1662,  were  desirous,  as  a  protestant  king 
had  at  length  come  to  the  throne,  to  make  one  more 
effort,  hoping  to  repair,  in  some  measure,  the  mischiefs 
of  a  former  obstinate  clinging  to  Romish  ceremonials. 
The  king,  therefore,  by  their  advice,  summoned  a  con- 
vocation of  the  clergy,  and  appointed  a  commission  of 
ten  bishops  and  twenty  other  divines f  to  prepare  mat- 

*  This  is  a  term  which  has  beca  usually  employed  to  signify  such 
alterations  in  the  prayer-book  as  would  make  it  acceptable  to  the  dis- 
senters, and  bring  them  into  the  establishment. 

t  The  ten  bishops  were,  Lamplugh,  archbishop  of  York,  Compton, 
Mew,  Lloyd,  Sprat,  Smith,  Trelawly,  Burnet,  Humphreys  and  Strat- 


48  KEFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  USAGES. 


ters  to  be  laid  before  them.  The  commission  met  at 
the  Jerusalem  Chamber,  Westminster,  on  the  10th  of 
October,  1689.  In  his  memoir  of  archbishop  Sancroft, 
Dr.  D'Oyly  says  of  this  project : 

"  In  consequence  of  this  temper  now  displayed  by 
the  protestant  dissenters,  [a  mild  and  conciliating  tem- 
per,] archbishop  Sancroft  was  induced  to  set  on  foot  a 
scheme  of  comprehension,  in  which  his  purpose  seems 
to  have  been,  to  make  such  alterations  m  the  liturgy, 
and  in  the  discipline  of  the  church,  in  points  not 
deemed  of  essential  and  primary  importance,  as  might 
prove  the  means,  through  corresponding  concessions  on 
the  part  of  the  more  moderate  dissenters,  of  admitting 
them  within  its  pale." 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  recite  the  particular  do- 
ings of  the  commission.  Enough  to  say  that  six  hun- 
dred alterations  were  proposed  by  them  to  be  laid 
before  the  convocation  for  its  sanction  and  adoption. 
They  were  brought  before  the  convocation,  but  by 
the  appointment  of  Dr.  Jane  as  prolocutor  in  the  lower 
house,  instead  of  Dr.  Tillotson,  the  whole  scheme  was 
blasted. 

Burnet,*  writing  in  the  beginning  of  the  next  cen- 
tury, and  referring  to  this  convocation,  says,  "Our 
Avorship  is  the  perfectest  composition  of  devotion  that 
we  find  in  any  church,  ancient  or  modern ;  yet  the  cor- 
rections that  were  agreed  to,  by  a  deputation  of  bishops 
and  divines  in  the  year  1689,  would  make  the  whole 
frame,  of  our  liturgy  still  more  perfect;  and  will,  I 
hope,  at  some  time  or  other,  be  better  entertained  than 

ford,  whose  dioceses  were  London,  Winchester,  St.  Asaph,  Rochester, 
Carlisle,  Exeter,  Salisbury,  Bangor  and  Chester.  The  twenty  divines 
were,  Stillingfleet,  Patrick,  Tillotson,  Meggot,  Sharp,  Kidder,  Aldridge, 
Jane,  Hall,  Beaumont,  Montague,  Goodman,  Beveridge,  Battely,  Al- 
ston, Tennison,  Scott,  Fowler,  Grove,  Williams. 
*  Hist,  of  His  Own  Times,  vol.  ii.,  p.  634. 


REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  USAGES.  49 

they  were  then.  I  am  persuaded  they  are  such  as 
would  bring  in  the  much  greater  part  of  the  dissenters 
to  the  communion  of  the  church,  and  are  in  themselves 
desirable,  though  there  were  not  a  dissenter  in  the  na- 
tion^ 

Thus  I  have  adduced  the  testimony  of  the  most 
eminent  bishops  and  divines  of  the  Enghsh  church,  at 
two  different  periods  of  its  history,  that  the  usages  of 
the  church  are  not  "  sufficiently  purged ;"  that  they 
need  further  corrections  in  order  to  remove  just  and 
reasonable  grounds  of  complaint.  At  the  first  at- 
tempt, their  removal  Avas  prevented  by  the  secular 
head  of  the  church ;  at  the  second,  by  high  church 
bishops  and  priests,  and  an  unyielding  house  of  com- 
mons. A  large  portion  of  the  purest  and  best  divines 
along  the  whole  track  of  time  from  one  period  to  the 
other,  were  opposed  to  them,  and  desired  their  removal. 
It  may  be  fairly  assumed,  therefore,  that,  in  the  matter 
of  ceremonies,  the  reformation  was  not  completed,  the 
English  church  itself  being  judge. 
5 


50 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  REFORMATION  INCOMPLETE  AS  TO  THE  NUMBERS  REFORMED. 

The  English  church  never  presented  the  glorious 
spectacle  of  the  ivhole  body  of  its  clergy  and  people 
devoted  to  the  principles  of  a  pure  protestant  faith.* 

*  The  particulars  are,  of  course,  included  in  a  general  declaration 
that  this  reformation  was  never  completed.  The  general  declaration 
can  be  fully  sustained  by  a  reference  to  Burnet.  I  quote  this  writer 
because  he  is  a  standard  authority  in  our  denomination,  both  among 
high  and  low  churchmen.  In  the  preface  to  his  second  volume  of 
Ilist.  Ref ,  he  says  : 

"  This  whole  objection,  when  all  acknowledged,  as  the  greatest  part 
of  it  cannot  be  denied,  amounts,  indeed,  to  this,  that  our  reformatmi 
has  iiot  yet  arrived  at  that  full  perfection  that  is  to  be  desired."    *    *  * 

"  The  worst  that  can  be  said  of  all  these  abuses  is,  that  they  are  rel- 
ics of  popery,  and  we  owe  it  to  the  unhappy  contests  among  ourselves 
that  a  due  correction  has  not  yet  been  given  to  them."    *    *    #  * 

"  I  have  now  examined  all  the  prejudices  that  either  occur  to  my 
thoughts,  or  that  I  have  met  with  in  books  or  discourses  against  our 
reformation  ;  and  I  hope,  upon  a  free  inquiry  into  them,  it  will  be 
ibund  that  some  of  them  are  of  no  force  at  all,  and  that  the  others, 
which  are  better  gronaded,  can  amount  to  no  more  than  this,  that  things 
were  not  managed  with  that  care,  or  brought  to  that  perfection,  that 
were  to  be  desired  ;  so  that  all  the  use  we  ought  to  make  of  these  ob- 
jections, is  to  be  directed  by  them  to  do  those  things  which  may  com- 
plete and  adorn  that  work,  which  was  managed  by  men  subject  to 
iniirraities,  who  neither  could  see  everything,  nor  were  able  to  accom- 
plish all  they  had  projected,  and  saw  fit  to  be  done."  *  *  *  "To 
speak  freely,  I  make  no  doubt  but  if  the  reformation  had  been  longer 
a  hatching  under  the  heat  of  persecution,  it  had  come  forth  ptrfecter 
than  it  was." 

These  are  honest  and  honorable  concessions.  They  accord  so  en- 
tirely with  the  fact,^-  of  the  case,  that  no  sincere  inquirer  after  truth 
can  fairly  come  to  any  other  conclusion.  They  breathe  a  spirit  of 
thankfulness  for  ^vhat  had  been  accuinplished,  and  a  desire  that  the 
work  might  be  completed.  Attributing  to  the  men  who  promoted  the 
reformation  the  common  frailties  of  our  nature,  and  recognizing  the 
dithculties  which  stood  in  their  way  —  difficulties  which  I  have  spoken 
of  in  a  previous  chapter  —  they  indulge  in  no  boastings  which  truth 
will  not  warrant.  I  commend  ihem  to  the  consideration  of  those  who 
are  in  the  habit  of  stating  the  results  of  this  reformation  in  a  different 
way.    These  statements  are  vital  to  the  subject  m  hand,  and  they 


REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOMPLETE.  51 

It  would  be  much  nearer  the  truth,  however,  to  assert 
the  opposite  of  this  of  the  people,  than  to  affirm  it  of 
the  clergy.  The  English  people  have  generally,  since 
the  reformation,  been  pretty  thoroughly  protestant — so 
much  so  that  when  any  portion  of  them  have  been 
perverted  by  a  strong  popish  leaning  among  the  clergy, 
it  has  been  only  the  few,  and  they  among  the  wealthy 
and  aristocratic.  The  body  of  the  middling  and  lower 
classes  of  the  nation  has  been  struck  through  and 
through  with  protestant  principles.  Hence  the  discon- 
tents, the  murmurings,  the  secessions,  which  have 
characterized  the  periods  most  signalized  by  a  tendency 
to  Roman  doctrines.  The  people  have  been  reached 
and  influenced  less  than  the  clergy,  by  considerations 
of  state  policy.  With  them,  religion  has  been  more  a 
domestic  and  fireside  matter ;  and  they  have  heartily 
embraced  that  which  accords  best  with  their  common- 
sense  views  of  the  truth  as  revealed  in  the  word  of 
God.  The  clergy  have  been,  to  some  extent,  vinder 
less  favorable  influences.  By  making  the  ritual  of  the 
church  a  subject  of  earnest  sttidy,  the  seeds  of  Roman- 
ism there  remaining  have  always  to  some  extent  devel- 
oped themselves.  It  would  be  strange  were  it  other- 
wise ;  for  if,  with  them,  the  reformation  of  religion  was 
necessarily  a  matter  of  expediency  to  some  extent,  and 
was  not,  as  we  have  shown,  fully  carried  through,  it 
Avould  be  marvellous  if  the  traces  of  the  ancient  cor- 
ruptions did  not  mar  the  theology  of  at  least  some  of 
them.  Such  we  find  to  be  the  case,  as  I  shall  now  at- 
tempt to  prove. 

There  is  a  difference  between  the  theology  of  Rome 
and  the  government  of  Rome.   Its  government  may  be 

must,  either  be  admitted,  or  the  authority  of  Burnet  as  a  historian  be 
invalidated. 

See  also  Warner's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  317. 


52  REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOMPLETE. 

expressed  in  one  word — despotism;  its  theology  in 
another — superstition.  In  the  order  of  their  birth  into 
the  world,  the  theology  of  Rome  was,  by  a  philosophi- 
cal necessity,  before  its  government.  The  mind  of  the 
people  had  to  be  degraded  by  superstition,  before  it 
would  bow  itself  to  receive  the  burdens  of  a  religious 
despotism.  The  papal  despotism  is,  therefore,  the  off- 
spring of  the  papal  corruptions.  The  latter  constitute 
the  root ;  the  former  is  the  branch.  Luther,  when  he 
began  his  reformation,  made  his  first  attack  upon  the 
theology  of  Rome;  and  when,  axe  in  hand,  he  had 
gone  round  the  tree,  and  with  his  strong  Saxon  arm 
severed  the  roots,  the  whole  fell  together ;  and  when 
the  large  sacramental  root  which  he  cut  only  half 
through  was  afterwards  broken  asunder,  the  whole 
perished  together.  The  English  reformers  began  with 
the  government  of  Rome ;  and  having  lopped  off  the 
top  of  the  tree,  were  obliged  afterwards  to  dig  the  tan- 
gled roots  from  the  ground,  or  to  satisfy  themselves 
with  making  an  annual  business  of  whipping  down  the 
sprouts  which  should  spring  up.  For  the  reasons 
stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  they  did  not  make  thor- 
ough work  in  extracting  the  roots; — especially  those 
sacramental  roots  which  had  gone  the  deepest  into  the 
soil.  These  have,  at  different  periods,  sent  out  their 
filaments,  producing  reserve  in  preaching  the  doctrine 
of  the  atonement,  tradition,  undue  exaltation  of  the 
church  and  of  ceremonies,  prayers  for  the  dead,  the 
use  of  pictures,  &c.  The  most  prominent  errors  re- 
tained by  our  reformers  related  to  the  sacraments. 
Upon  these,  in  truth,  they  appear  to  have  been  most 
deeply  in  error.  Here,  nearly  all  the  early  English 
reformers  were  more  or  less  defective,  and  inany  of  the 
divines  in  every  subsequent  period. 

The  reader's  attention  is  first  invited  to  the  opin- 


REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOMPLETE. 


53 


ions  of  Cranmer.  Of  the  sacraments,  he  speaks 
thus : 

"And  for  this  cause,  Christ  ordained  baptism  in 
water,  that,  as  sure  as  we  see.  feel,  and  touch,  water, 
with  our  bodies,  and  be  washed  with  water,  so  assured- 
ly ought  we  to  beheve,  when  we  be  baptized,  that 
Christ  is  verily  present  with  us,  and  that  by  him  we  be 
newly  born  again  spiritually,  and  tvashed  from  our 
siiis,  and  grafted  into  the  stock  of  Christ's  oion  body. 
*  *  *  *  In  like  manner,  Christ  ordained  the  sa- 
crament of  his  body  and  blood,  in  bread  and  wine,  to 
preach  unto  us  that,  as  our  bodies  be  fed,  nourished, 
and  preserved  with  meat  and  drink,  so  {as  touching 
our  spiritual  life  towards  God)  roe  be  fed,  nourished, 
and  preserved,  by  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Saviour 
Christ.'' 1^ 

This  same  leading  reformer  also  says — 
"And  when  you  say,  that,  in  baptism,  we  receive 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  in  the  sacrament  of  his  body, 
we  receive  his  very  flesh  and  blood,  this  your  saying  is 
no  small  derogation  to  baptism;  wherein  wc  receive 
not  only  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  but  also  Christ  him- 
self, whole,  body  arid  sotd,  manhood  and  Godhead, 
unto  everlasting  life.  For  St.  Paul  saith,  as  many  as 
be  baptized  in  Christ,  put  Christ  upon  them.  Never- 
theless, this  is  in  divers  respects ;  for  in  baptism,  it  is 
done  in  respect  of  regeneration,  and  in  the  holy  com- 
munion, in  respect  of  nourishment  and  sustentation."  f 
It  is  common  noAV-a-days,  to  interpret' the  word  re- 
generation, which  occurs  in  the  baptismal  service  of 
our  church,  as  referring,  not  to  a  spiritual,  but  to  an 
ecclesiastical  change ;  not  to  the  renovation  of  the  soul, 
but  to  a  mere  outward  transfer  from  the  world  to  the 

*  Cranmer's  Remaias,  pp.  302,  303. 
'  t  Wordsworth's  Life  of  Latimer,  iii.,  238. 
5* 


54  REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOBIPLETE. 


church.  The  above  quotation  shows  this  to  be  a  very 
different  view  from  the  one  held  by  Cranmer.  The 
receiving  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  the  blood  of  Christ,  nay, 
Christ  himself,  body  and  soul,  manhood  and  Godhead, 
is  quite  another  affair  from  a  mere  changing  of  one's 
external  relations. 

Hear  now  what  Ridley  says. 

"As  the  body  is  nourished  by  the  bread  and  wine, 
at  the  communion,  and  the  soul  by  grace  and  Spirit, 
loith  the  body  of  Christ ;  even  so  in  baptism,  the  body 
is  washed  with  the  visible  water,  and  the  soid  cleansed 
by  the  invisible  Holy  Ghost."* 

This,  too,  is  very  different  doctrine  from  that  Avhich 
makes  baptismal  regeneration  consist  merely  in  the 
outward  change.    The  same  reformer  says  again  — 

"  Both  you  and  I  agree  in  this,  that  in  the  sacra- 
ment is  the  very  true  and  natural  body  and  blood  of 
Christ,  even  that  ivhich  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
which  ascended  into  heaven,  which  sits  on  the  right 
hand  of  God  the  Father,  which  shall  come  from  thence 
to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  only  we  differ  in 
mode,  in  the  way  and  manner  of  the  being.  We  con- 
fess all  one  thing  to  be  in  the  sacrament,  and  dissent 
in  the  manner  of  being  there.  I  confess  Christ's  7iatu- 
ral  body  to  be  in  the  sacrament  by  Spirit  and  grace, 
&c.  You  [Romanists]  make  a  grosser  kind  of  being, 
enclosing  a  natural  body  under  the  shape  and  form  of 
bread  and  wine."  f 

This  passage  brings  to  light  a  fact  which  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  prove  at  large  when  I  come  to  treat 
of  the  sacraments,  namely,  that  the  formularies  of  our 
church  inculcate,  and  that  many  of  the  English  divines 
teach,  a  spiritual  change  in  the  elements,  and  a  spirit- 

*  Cranmer's  Remains,  iii.,  65.         f  RiiUey's  Remains,  p.  274. 


REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOMPLETE.  55 

ual  presence  in  the  elements,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
Roman  doctrine  of  a  carnal  change  and  a  carnal  pres- 
ence ;  the  only  difference  being  that  the  one  beheves 
the  bread  and  wine  changed  into  the  carnal  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,  and  the  other  into  his  spiritual  body 
and  blood — both  regarding  the  change  alike  real. 

Look  next  at  the  words  of  Latimer : 

"  Like  as  Christ  was  born  in  rags,  so  the  conversion 
of  the  whole  world  is  by  rags,  by  things  which  are 
most  vile  in  this  world.  For  what  is  so  common  as 
water  7  Every  foul  ditch  is  full  of  it ;  yet  we  wash 
out  remission  of  our  siiis  by  baptism  ;  for,  like  as  he 
was  found  in  rags,  so  we  must  find  him  by  baptism.^'  * 

In  regard  to  baptism,  bishop  Jeremy  Taylor  says : 

"In  baptism,  all  our  sins  are  pardoned.  According 
to  the  words  of  the  prophet:  'I  will  sprinkle  clean 
water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  clean  from  all  your 
filthiness.'  The  catechumen  descends  into  the  font  a 
sinner,  he  arises  purified;  he  goes  down  the  son  of 
death,  he  comes  up  the  son  of  the  resurrection ;  he  en- 
ters in  the  son  of  folly  and  prevarication,  he  returns 
the  son  of  reconciliation ;  he  stoops  down  the  child  of 
wrath,  and  ascends  the  heir  of  mercy ;  he  was  the  child 
of  the  devil,  and  now  he  is  the  servant  of  the  Son  of 
God."  *  *  *  "  Baptism  is  aneklogistos  aphesis 
amartion,  —  an  entire  full  forgiveness  of  sins;  so  that 
they  shall  never  be  called  again  to  scrutiny." 

"  Baptism  does  not  only  pardon  our  sins,  but  puts  us 
into  a  state  of  pardon  for  the  time  to  come.  *  *  * 
Baptism  hath  influence  into  the  pardon  of  all  our  sins, 
committed  in  all  the  days  of  our  folly  and  infirmity ; 
and  so  long  as  we  have  not  been  baptized,  so  long  we 
are  out  of  the  state  of  pardon."  f 


*  Latimer's  Sermons,  ii.,  347       f  Works,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  243—247. 


56  REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOMPLETE. 


The  reader  will  please  next  to  consider  the  language 
of  the  "judicious"  Hooker. 

"  The  eucharist  is  not  a  bare  sign  or  figure  only. 
These  holy  mysteries^  received  in  due  manner,  do  in- 
strumentally,  both  make  us  partakers  of  that  body  and 
blood  which  were  given  for  the  life  of  the  world  ;  and, 
besides,  also  impart  unto  us,  even  in  true  and  real, 
though  mystical  manner,  the  very  person  of  our  Lord 
himself  whole,  perfect  and  entire."* 

In  another  place,  the  same  eminent  divine  uses  this 
strong  language : 

"  The  very  letter  of  the  words  of  Christ  giveth  plain 
security,  that  these  mysteries  do  as  nails  fasten  us  to 
His  very  cross,  that  by  them  we  draw  out  as  touching 
efficacy,  force  and  virtue,  even  the  blood  of  His  gored 
side ;  in  the  wounds  of  our  Redeemer  we  there  dip  our 
tongues,  we  are  dyed  red  both  within  and  without,  our 
hunger  is  satisfied,  and  our  thirst  forever  quenched; 
they  are  things  wonderful  which  he  feeleth,  great 
which  he  seeth,  and  unheard  of  which  he  uttereth. 
whose  soul  is  possessed  of  the  Paschal  Lamb,  and 
made  joyful  in  the  strength  of  this  new  wine;  this 
bread  hath  in  it  more  than  the  substance  which  our 
eyes  behold ;  this  cup,  hallowed  with  solemn  benedic- 
tion, availeth  to  the  endless  life  and  welfare  of  soul  and 
body,  in  that  it  serveth  as  well  for  a  medicine  to  heal 
oar  ijifirmities  and  purge  our  sins,  as  for  a  sacrifice 
of  thanksgiving:  with  touching  it  sanctifieth,  it  en- 
lighteneth  with  belief,  it  truly  conformeth  us  to  the 
image  of  Jesus  Christ;  what  these  elements  are  in 
themselves  it  skilleth  not,  it  is  enough  that  to  me  which 
take  them  they  are  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  His 
promise  in  witness  hereof  sufficeth ;  His  word  He  know- 

*  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  v.  Ixvii.,  8. 


REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOMPLETE.  57 

eth  which  way  to  accomphsh ;  why  should  any  cogi- 
tation possess  the  mind  of  a  faithful  communicant  but 
this,  O  my  God,  Thou  art  true,  O  my  soul,  thou  art 
happy!" * 

Equally,  and,  if  possible,  more  extravagant  are  this 
writer's  views  of  the  powers  of  the  christian  ministry. 

"In  that  they  are  Christ's  ambassadors  and  His 
laborers,  who  should  give  them  their  commission,  but 
He  whose  most  inward  affairs  they  manage  1  Is  not 
God  alone  the  Father  of  spirits  7  Are  not  souls  the 
purchase  of  Jesus  Christ?  What  angels  in  heaven 
could  have  said  to  man,  as  our  Lord  did  unto  St.  Pe- 
ter, 'Feed  my  sheep,  —  preach — baptize — do  this  in 
remembrance  of  me.  Whose  sins  ye  retain,  they  are 
retained ;  and  their  offences  in  heaven  pardoned,  whose 
faults  you  shall  on  earth  forgive?'  What  think  we? 
Are  these  terrestrial  sounds,  or  else  are  they  voices  ut- 
tered out  of  the  clouds  above  ?  The  power  of  the  min- 
istry of  God  translateth  out  of  darkness  into  glory ;  it 
raiseth  man  from  the  earth,  and  bringeth  God  him- 
self from  heaven ;  by  blessing  visible  elements  it  maketh 
them  invisible  graces  ;  it  giveth  daily  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
it  hath  to  dispose  of  that  flesh  which  was  given  for  the 
life  of  the  world,  and  the  blood  which  was  poitred  out 
to  redeem  souls  ;  when  it  pour  eth  maledictions  upon  the 
heads  of  the  wicked,  they  perish  ;  when  it  revoketh  the 
same,  they  revive.  O  wretched  blindness  !  if  we  ad- 
mire not  so  great  power ;  more  wretched,  if  we  con- 
sider it  aright,  and,  notwithstanding,  imagine  that  any 
but  God  can  bestow  it !  To  whom  Christ  hath  im- 
parted power,  both  over  that  mystical  body,  which  is 
the  society  of  souls,  and  over  that  natural,  which  is 
Himself;  for  the  knitting  of  both  in  one,  (a  work 


*  Ecc.  Pol.,  book  v.,  c.  67. 


58  REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOMPLETE. 

which  antiquity  doth  call  the  making  of  Christ's  body,) 
the  same  power  is  in  such  not  amiss  both  termed  a  kind 
of  mark  or  character,  and  acknowledged  to  be  indeli- 
ble." 

I  quote  thus  largely  from  this  author,  because  he  is 
the  representative  of  a  large  class,  and  is  held  in  high 
repute.  The  work  from  which  Ave  quote  has  the  rec- 
ommendation of  the  house  of  bishops,  and  belongs  to 
the  course  of  study  which  every  candidate  for  the  min- 
istry in  our  church  is  required  to  pursue. 

I  subjoin  a  few  quotations  from  English  divines  on 
other  topics. 

Respecting  the  number  of  the  sacraments,  bishop 
Taylor  says : 

"  It  is  none  of  the  doctrine  of  the  church  of  England, 
that  there  are  two  sacraments  only;  but  that  those 
rituals  commanded  in  scripture,  which  the  ecclesias- 
tical use  calls  sacraments  (by  a  word  of  art)  two  only 
are  generally  necessary  to  salvation." 

Mr.  Palmer  also  quotes  archbishop  Seeker  to  the 
same  effect. 

Bishop  Overall,  one  of  the  translators  of  our  Bible, 
and  the  author  of  the  latter  part  of  our  church  cate- 
chism, in  his  comment  on  the  communion  service  in 
the  first  prayer-book  of  Edward  VI.,  thus  advances  a 
doctrine  which  looks  very  much  like  the  popish  sacri- 
fice of  the  mass : 

"  'We  mid  all  thy  whole  church?  This  is  a  plain 
oblation  of  Christ's  death  once  offered,  and  a  repre- 
sentative sacrifice  of  it  for  the  sins  and  for  the  benefit 
of  the  whole  world,  of  the  whole  church ;  that  both 
those  which  are  here  on  earth,  and  those  which  rest  in 
the  sleep  of  peace,  being  departed  in  the  faith  of  Christ, 

*  Ecclesiastical  Pol.,  v.  Ixxvii.,  1,  2. 


REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOMPLETE.  59 


may  find  the  effect  and  virtue  of  it.  And  if  the  au- 
thority of  the  ancient  church  may  prevail  with  us,  as 
it  ought  to  do,  there  is  nothing  more  manifest  than 
that  it  always  taught  as  much.  *  *  *  And  in 
this  sense,  it  is  not  only  an  eucharistical,  but  a  propi- 
tiaiory  saa-ifice ;  and  to  prove  it  a  sacrifice  propitia- 
tory, always  so  acknowledged  by  the  ancient  church, 
there  can  be  no  better  argument  than  that  it  was  offered 
up,  not  only  for  the  living  but  for  the  dead,  and  for 
those  that  were  absent,  for  them  that  travelled,  for 
Jews,  for  heretics,  &c.,  who  could  have  no  other  bene- 
fit of  it,  but  as  it  Avas  a  propitiatory  sacrifice ;  and 
that  they  did  thus  offer  it,  read  a  whole  army  of  fa- 
thers. Nos  autem  ita  comparati  sumus  ut  cum  tasse 
multis  et  magnis  authoribus  errare  malimus  quam  cum 
Puritanis  verum  dicere.  Not  that  it  makes  any  propi- 
tiation as  that  of  the  cross  did,  but  only  that  it  obtains 
and  brings  into  act  that  propitiation  which  was  once 
made  by  Christ." 

Bishop  Cosins  thus  speaks  of  prayers  for  the  dead : 
"Our  church  agrees  Avith  the  church  of  Rome  in 
giving  thanks  to  God  for  them  that  are  departed  out 
of  this  life  in  the  true  faith  of  Christ's  catholic  church, 
and  in  praying  to  God  that  they  may  have  a  joyfixl 
resurrection,  and  a  perfect  consummation  of  bliss,  both 
in  their  bodies  and  souls  in  his  eternal  kingdom." 

It  was  and  is  the  opinion  of  a  large  class  of  English 
divines,  that  the  sentence  before  a  prayer  in  the  com- 
munion service,  "Let  us  pray  for  the  whole  state  of 
Christ's  church  militant,"  is  intended  to  include  that 
portion  of  the  church  now  in  the  unseen  world,  as  well 
as  that  on  earth,  and  hence  that  that  prayer  is  intended 
to  be  offered  for  the  departed  saints  as  well  as  for  the 
living.  Through  the  influence  of  Bucer,  and  other 
foreign  reformers,  the  words  "here  on  earth"  were 


60  REFORMATION  NUMERICALLY  INCOMPLETE. 

inserted  after  the  adjective  militant.  Our  American 
prayer-book  has  been  made  more  popish  than  the 
EngUsh,  by  the  fathers  of  our  church  restoring  it  to  the 
ancient  phraseology.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  in  doing 
so,  they  have  made  it  conform  to  the  opinions  of  the 
great  body  of  high  church  English  divines, — especially 
such  men  as  Andrewes,  Overall,  Bull,  Hammond, 
Thorndike,  Leslie,  and  many  others. 

So  numerous  are  the  authorities  I  might  cite  to 
strengthen  the  position  in  hand,  that  the  chief  difficul- 
ty lies  in  knowing  where  to  stop.  Enough,  however, 
is  before  the  reader,  to  show  that  z.  portion  of  the  Eng- 
lish clergy  were  never  reached  and  influenced  by  an 
unalloyed  protestant  faith.  Some  of  the  persons  spoken 
of  were  never  protestants  in  any  just  sense ;  others  of 
them  were — such  as  Cranmer,  Jewel,  &c.,  though  on 
some  points  confused  and  defective. 


61 


CHAPTER  VI. 

RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION. 

Many  persons  have  the  impression  that  the  strong 
tendency  towards  Romanism  exhibited  at  the  present 
time  in  the  EngUsh  and  American  Episcopal  churches, 
under  the  form  of  what  is  called  tractarianism  or  Pu- 
seyism,  is  altogether  a  new  thing;  that  the  Enghsh 
church,  after  its  reformation  was  estabhshed,  continued 
through  successive  generations  to  be  swayed  by  prot- 
estant  principles  only ;  and  that  in  these  latter  days, 
for  the  first  time,  a  popish  spirit,  from  some  unknown, 
mysterious  cause,  has  entered  its  sacred  temples,  per- 
verting its  ministers,  and  spoiling  the  simplicity  of  its 
worship.  In  scarcely  anything  could  such  persons  be 
more  mistaken.  The  present  tendency  to  Romanism, 
in  that  church,  is  not  the  first,  or  the  second,  or  the 
third,  it  has  experienced,  as  history  abundantly  tes- 
tifies. It  is  not  a  disease  just  broken  out  for  the  first 
time,  but  one  which  has  long  been  rankling  in  the  sys- 
tem. It  is  an  old  chronic  difficulty,  which  has  pro- 
duced gouts,  and  dyspepsias,  and  fevers,  and  chills, 
and  convulsions,  through  several  generations ;  and 
these  are  the  results  of  an  unfinished  reformation. 

It  is  evident  that  ever  since  the  days  of  Cranmer  and 
Jewel,  the  tendency  in  regard  to  ceremonialism,  and 
Romish  views  of  the  sacraments,  the  ministry,  &<;..  has 
been  upward.  Even  in  the  days  of  Laud,  when  there 
was  a  strong  leaning  towards  papal  corruptions,  the 
body  of  the  clergy  and  people  were  far  less  submissive 
under  the  burdens  of  an  exact  ceremonialism,  than 
they  were  even  just  before  the  publication  of  the 
6 


62  RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION. 

Tracts  for  the  Times  was  begun.  The  phraseology 
of  our  own  times  has  far  more  of  the  Romish  cast  than 
that  of  earUer  periods.  The  following  passages,  found 
in  the  London  Christian  Observer,  are  a  good  illustra- 
tion. Rush  worth  speaks  thus  of  Laud:  —  "As  Laud 
approached  the  communion  table,  he  made  several  lowly- 
bowings  ;  and  coming  up  to  the  side  of  the  table  where 
the  bread  and  wine  were  covered,  he  bowed  seven 
times."  Le  Bas,  of  our  own  times,  says,  —  "Laud  is 
supposed  to  have  bowed  repeatedly  towards  the  altar, 
and  to  have  approached  the  sacred  elements,  with  antic 
gesticulations." 

The  forms  of  speaking  here  are  particularly  worthy 
of  notice.  At  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  the 
English  church,  the  word  altar  was  not  generally 
used;  in  our  time,  it  is  common.  Then  bread  and 
wine''  was  the  more  common  expression,  now  it  is 
"  sacred  elements."  In  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  a  vari- 
ety of  ceremonies,  such  as  signing  with  the  sign  of  the 
cross  in  baptism,  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  kneel- 
ing to  receive  the  communion,  wearing  the  surplice, 
and  a  variety  of  other  things,  occasioned  great  discon- 
tents, murmurings,  protestations,  and  finally  even  the 
overthrow  of  the  government  and  the  church,  the  tri- 
umph of  presbytery  over  episcopacy,  and  of  the  direc- 
tory over  the  prayer-book.  In  our  times,  these  observ- 
ances,— sorry  I  am  to  say  it, — are  all  submitted  to 
without  a  murmur,  or,  at  most,  with  only  here  and 
there  an  open  remonstrant.  At  every  revision  of  the 
liturgy,  from  the  reign  of  EHzabeth  to  that  of  Charles 
II.,  it  was  made  more  popish  instead  of  less.  The  ten- 
dency, then,  has  been  upwards  towards  a  higher  and 
more  stringent  ritualism.  In  other  words,  there  has 
been  a  Rome-ward  movement,  gradual  and  generally 
almost  imperceptible,  but  still  so  real  as  to  be  capable 


RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION.  63 

of  historical  demonstration,  from  the  days  of  Edward 
VI.  In  the  times  of  Ehzabeth,  James  I.,  and  Charles 
I.,  the  validity  of  the  orders  of  foreign  protestant 
churches  was  acknowledged  by  the  great  body  of 
English  Episcopalians.  Noio,  the  orders  of  other 
churches  are  declared  to  be  invalid,  not  by  tractarians 
merely,  but  by  large  numbers  who  call  themselves 
evangelical.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore,  that 
there  has  been  an  upward  tendency  for  a  long  period 
of  time ;  and  that  the  tractarian  movement  is  only  the 
old  tendency  a  little  quickened  in  its  motion. 

There  have  been  periods,  however,  when  this  move- 
ment has  been  more  marked,  and  when  it  has  ac- 
cordingly attracted  more  of  the  public  notice.  The 
reader's  attention  is  invited  to  two  or  three  of  these 
periods. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  queen  Anne,  there 
was  a  rapid  movement  towards  Rome,  not  less  marked 
and  alarming  than  the  one  we  are  witnessing  at  the 
present  time.  In  speaking  of  this  movement,  Burnet 
says : 

"  Many,  who  profess  great  zeal  for  the  legal  estab- 
lishment, yet  seem  to  be  set  on  forming  a  new  scheme, 
both  of  religion  and  government,  and  are  taking  the 
very  same  methods,  only  a  little  diversified,  that  have 
been  pursued  in  popery,  to  bring  the  world  into  a  blind 
dependence  tipon  the  clergy,  and  to  draw  the  wealth 
and  strength  of  the  nation  into  their  hands. 

"  The  opinion  of  the  sacrament  being  an  expiatory 
sacrifice,  and  of  the  necessity  of  secret  confession  and 
absolution,  and  of  the  church's  authority  acting  in  an 
independence  on  the  civil  powers,  were  the  founda- 
tions of  popery,  and  the  seminal  principles  out  of 
which  that  mass  of  corruptions  was  formed.  They 
have  no  color  for  them  in  the  New  Testament,  nor  in 


64  RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION. 

the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  and  are  directly  contrary 
to  all  the  principles  on  which  the  reformation  was  car- 
ried on,  and  to  every  step  that  was  made  in  the  whole 
progress  of  that  work  ;  and  yet  these  of  late  have  been 
notions  much  favored^  and  written  for  icith  much  zeal, 
not  to  say  indecency ;  besides  a  vast  number  of  little 
superstitious  practices,  that  in  some  places  have  grown 
to  great  height,  so  that  we  were  insensibly  going  off 
from  the  reformation,  and  framing  a  new  model  of  a 
church,  totally  different  from  all  our  former  princi- 
ples." ***** 

"  These  have  been  but  too  visibly  the  arts  of  Satan 
to  divide  and  distract  us ;  and  have  oftener  than  once 
brought  us  near  the  brink  of  ruin.  God  has  often  res- 
cued us,  while  the  continuance  and  progress  of  these 
evil  dispositions  have  as  often  made  us  relapse  into  a 
broken  and  disjointed  state."* 

Again,  "  If  there  is  any  difference  between  the  pres- 
ent state  of  things  and  that  we  tcere  in  above  thirty 
years  ago,  it  is  that  we  are  now  more  naked  and  de- 
fenceless, more  insensible  and  stupid,  and  much  more 
depraved  in  all  respects,  than  we  were  then.  We  are 
sunk  in  our  learning,  vitiated  in  principle;  tainted, 
some  with  atheism,  others  with  superstition,  both 
which,  though  by  different  ways,  prepare  us  for 
popery.  Our  old  breaches  are  not  healed,  and  new 
ones,  not  known  in  former  times,  are  raised  and  fer- 
mented with  much  industry  and  great  art,  as  well  as 
much  heat ;  many  are  barefacedly  going  back  to  thai 
misery  from  which  God  by  such  a.  mighty  Imnd  res- 
cued us."  ***** 

"  The  indispensable  necessity  of  the  priesthood  to  all 
sacred  functions,  is  carried  in  the  point  of  baptism  fur- 

*  Preface  to  third  volume  Hist.  Ref. 


RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION. 


65 


ther  than  popery.  Their  devotions  are  openly  recom- 
mended, and  a  union  with  the  Galilean  church  has 
been  impudently  j^rojiosed ;  tlie  reformation  and  the 
reformers  are  by  many  daily  vilified."  * 

Such  is  the  sad  account  which  Burnet  gives  of  the 
state  of  things  during  the  first  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Such  passages,  stumbled  upon  accidentally, 
and  without  connection,  would  be  taken  as  a  descrip- 
tion of  what  is  now  passing  under  our  own  observa- 
tion. It  was  just  such  a  movement  tov/ards  Roman- 
ism as  that  of  the  present  time  ;  characterized  by 
defection  in  the  same  particular  doctrines,  the  same 
deprecation  of  the  reformation  and  reformers,  with  the 
same  longing  for  a  reunion  with  Rome.  It  was  at- 
tended, too,  by  the  same  alarms  and  remonstrances  on 
the  part  of  sensible  men. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  instance  in  which  the  church 
of  England  has  filled  the  hearts  of  her  true  children 
with  grief,  by  a  threatened  revolt  from  the  protestant 
faith.  The  reader  will  observe  that  in  the  above  ex- 
tracts, Burnet  speaks  of  the  state  the  church  of  Eng- 
land was  then  in,  as  similar,  though  perhaps  worse  in 
some  respects,  than  the  one  it  was  in  more  than  thirty 
years  before.  He  refers  to  the  dark  period  in  the  Eng- 
lish church's  history  diu-ing  the  reign  of  James  II.,  who 
was  during  his  headship  of  the  church  an  avowed  pa- 
pist. Of  this  period,  Burnet  says,f  "  In  king  James' 
reign,  the  fear  of  popery  was  so  strong,  as  well  as  just ^ 
that  many,  in  and  about  London,  began  to  meet  often 
together,  both  for  devotion,  and  for  their  further  in- 
struction." 

He  also  says  of  the  preceding  reign,  that  of  Charles 
II.,  that  "The  management  for  popery  was  visible:" 

*  Introduction  to  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii. 
t  Hist,  of  His  Own  Times,  vol.  ii.,  p.  317. 
6* 


66  RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION. 

and  in  another  place,  that  "  the  fears  of  popery,  and 
the  progress  that  atheism  was  making,  did  alarm  good 
and  wise  menP 

Before  the  commonwealth,  in  the  days  of  archbishop 
Laud,  about  1640,  there  was  still  another  strong  lean- 
ing to  Romanism.  The  account  of  this  period  I  take 
from  Hallam.* 

Speaking  of  the  persecutions  of  the  puritans  under 
Laud,  this  writer  says : 

"  These  severe  proceedings  of  the  court  and  hie- 
rarchy became  more  odious  on  account  of  their  sus- 
pected bearing,  or  at  least  notorious  indulgence,  towards 
popery."  *  *  *  *  "  It  was  evidently  true,  wAa^ 
the  nation  saw  with  alarm,  that  a  proneness  to  favor 
the  professors  of  this  religion,  [the  Roman  Catholic,] 
and  to  a  considerable  degree  the  religion  itself,  was  at 
the  bottom  of  a  conduct  so  inconsistent,"  &c. 

Again,  after  speaking  of  the  eifectual  way  in  which 
the  puritans  resisted  the  papal  fascinations,  he  says  : 

"  But  far  different  principles  actuated  the  prevailing 
party  in  the  church  of  England.  A  change  had  for 
some  years  been  wrought  in  its  tenets,  and  still  more  in 
its  sentiments,  which,  while  it  brought  the  whole  body 
into  a  sort  of  approximation  to  Rome,  made  many  in- 
dividuals shoot  as  it  were  from  their  own  sphere, 
on  coming  within  the  stronger  attraction  of  another." 
*  *  *  *  "  It  is  notorious  that^all  the  innovations 
of  the  school  of  Laud  were  so  many  approaches,  in 
the  exterior  worship  of  the  church,  to  the  Roman 
model.  Pictures  were  set  up  or  repaired;  the  com- 
munion-table took  the  name  and  the  position  of  an 
altar;  it  was  sometimes  made  of  stone;  obeisances 
were  made  to  it ;  the  crucifix  was  sometimes  placed 

*  Constitutional  Hist,  of  Eng.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  80—102. 


RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION.  67 


upon  it ;  the  dress  of  the  officiating  priests  became 
more  gaiidy,  churches  were  consecrated  with  a  strange 
and  mystical  pageantry.  These  petty  superstitions, 
which  would  of  themselves  have  disgusted  a  nation 
accustomed  to  despise  as  well  as  abhor  the  pompous 
rites  of  the  Catholics,  became  more  alarming  from  the 
evident  bias  of  some  leading  churchmen  to  parts  of  the 
Romish  theology.  The  doctrine  of  the  real  presence, 
distinguishable  only  by  vagueness  of  definition  from 
that  of  the  church  of  Rome,  was  generally  held.  Mon- 
tague, bishop  of  Chichester,  already  so  conspicuous, 
and  justly  reckoned  the  chief  of  the  Romanizing  fac- 
tion, went  a  considerable  length  towards  admitting  the 
invocation  of  saints ;  prayers  for  the  dead,  which  lead 
at  once  to  the  tenet  of  purgatory,  were  vindicated  by 
many;  in  fact,  there  was  hardly  any  distinctive  opin- 
ion of  the  church  of  Rome,  which  had  not  its  abettors 
among  the  bishops,  or  those  who  wrote  under  their 
patronage.  The  practice  of  auricular  confession,  the 
suppression  of  which  an  aspiring  clergy  must  so  deeply 
regret,  was  frequently  inculcated  as  a  duty.  And 
Laud  gave  just  offence  by  a  public  declaration  that,  in 
the  disposal  of  benefices,  he  should,  in  equal  degrees 
of  merit,  prefer  single  before  married  priests."  *  *  * 
'•It  became  usual  for  our  churchmen  to  lament  the 
precipitancy  with  which  the  reformation  had  been 
conducted,  and  to  inveigh  against  its  principal  instru- 
ments." * 

*  The  thronged  condition  of  the  highway  to  Rome,  exhibited  at  this 
period,  is  well  described  in  the  following  pointed  anecdote  : 

"A  court  lady,  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Devonshire,  having  turned 
Catholic,  was  asked  by  Laud  the  reason  of  her  conversion.  "Tis 
chiefly,'  said  she,  '  because  I  hate  to  travel  in  a  crowd.'  The  meaning  of 
this  expression  being  demanded,  she  replied,  '  I  perceive  your  grace  and 
many  others  are  making  haste  to  Rome  ;  and,  therefore,  in  order  to  prevent 
my  being  crowded,  I  have  gone  before  you.' — Hume's  Hist,  of  Eng.,  vol. 
vii.,  p.  90. 


68  RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION. 

Here  again  are  the  same  characteristics  which  mark 
the  present  movements  in  the  church  of  England,  and 
in  the  Episcopal  church  of  America — the  same  lean- 
ing to  Roman  doctrine,  the  same  adoption  of  supersti- 
tious practices,  and  the  same  disparagement  of  the 
reformation  and  the  reformers. 

What  else  could  be  anticipated  from  such  a  state  of 
things,  but  that  Rome  would  rejoice,  and  calculate  on 
large  annexations  from  protestant  territory?  And 
such  indeed  was  the  fact.  So  hopeful  did  she  regard 
the  aspect  of  things  in  England,  that  she  prevailed 
upon  king  Charles  (no  very  difficult  task,  I  appre- 
hend) to  receive  privately  from  her  court  an  accred- 
ited agent,  named  Panzani,  for  the  purpose  of  effecting 
some  incipient  reconciliations.  During  Panzani's  stay 
in  England,  negotiations  were  attempted  for  reconcil- 
ing the  church  of  England  with  that  of  Rome.  Win- 
debank.  Lord  Cottington,  and  bishop  Montague,  acted 
in  behalf  of  the  king.  The  negotiations  failed  by  rea- 
son of  the  stubbornness  of  the  see  of  Rome  in  refusing 
to  make  any  concessions. 

Panzani,  on  his  return  to  Rome,  made  a  report  to  the 
pope  respecting  the  state  of  the  Roman  Catholic  reli- 
gion in  England.  From  this  report,  Mr.  Charles  Butler 
has  published  a  long  and  important  extract.  It  speaks 
of  the  flourishing  state  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
in  England ;  says  that  many,  especially  among  the  no- 
bility, maintained  such  an  exterior  as  not  to  be  known 
as  Romanists;  that  many  others,  from  apprehensions 
of  losing  their  property,  lived  outwardly  as  protestants, 
taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  attending  protestant 
churches,  who  were  yet  papists  in  heart.  While  he 
was  in  London,  he  reports  that  nearly  all  the  nobility 
who  died,  though  reported  protestants,  died  as  Roman- 
ists.   He  speaks  of  a  great  change  as  apparent  in 


RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION.  69 

books;  auricular  confession  as  being  praised,  images 
as  well  spoken  of,  and  wishes  of  reunion  as  expressed. 
He  says  a  good  deal  about  the  appointment  of  a  Roman 
Cathohc  bishop  for  England.  He  also  mentions  a  book, 
written  by  Sancta  Clara,  and  expresses  sorrow  at  find- 
ing it  put  in  the  Index  Expurgatorius,  because  the  king 
was  pleased  with  it.  The  book  was  an  attempt  to 
show  the  compatibility  of  the  Anglican  doctrines  with 
those  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 

Thus  I  have  adduced,  I  believe,  sufficient  evidence 
to  show  that  there  have  be6n  at  least  Jive  distinct  peri- 
ods, including  the  present,  in  which  a  strong  and 
alarming  tendency  towards  the  theology  and  the 
usages  of  the  papal  church  has  been  manifested  in  the 
established  church  of  England.  And  in  each  case,  it 
has  been  marked  by  precisely  the  same  characteristics, 
and  has  been  developed  in  the  same  progressive  way 
and  order.  First,  an  increased  attention  to  outward 
ordinances  and  ceremonies ;  then  the  magnification 
and  lifting  up  of  the  sacraments  as  the  chief  of  these ; 
then  a  perversion  of  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments ; 
then  higher  claims  in  behalf  of  priestly  power  and 
priestly  intervention ;  then  the  setting  up  of  the  abso- 
lute authority  of  the  church;  and  then,  as  a  necessary 
consequence  of  this,  and  as  a  cap-stone  of  the  whole, 
the  conclusion  that  there  was  sin  in  resisting  the  au- 
thority of  the  Romish  church,  and  a  desire  once  more 
to  bow  the  neck  and  receive  her  yoke.  And  the  only 
material  difference  which  can  be  shown  to  exist  be- 
tween the  state  of  things  in  each  of  these  periods  and 
the  present,  consists  in  the  fact  that  during  tha  contin- 
uance of  each  of  them  there  was  within  the  bosom  of 
the  church  a  strong  and  powerful  body,  consisting  of 
the  best  divines  and  a  large  majority  of  the  laity,  who 
openly  alleged  that  the  causes  of  the  difficulty  lay  in, 


70  RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION. 

the  remains  of  popery,  not  purged  out  of  the  hturgy 
and  usages  of  the  church,  and  who  reasoned,  protested, 
expostulated,  and  in  some  instances  clamored  for  their 
removal ;  whereas,  at  the  present  time,  the  great  ma- 
jority seem  to  have  lost  sight  of  these  true  sources  of 
the  difficulty,  and  appear  so  forgetful  of  the  historical 
facts  in  the  case,  that  when  the  old  arguments  which 
have  been  pressed  by  the  wisest  men  in  the  church, 
through  all  its  popish  periods,  are  reasserted,  they  are 
seized  with  horror  and  amazement,  as  if  some  new 
thing  had  happened,  and  an  axe  were  laid  at  the  root 
of  church  principles.  It  will  be  shown,  in  a  subsequent 
part  of  the  book,  that  there  have  been  principles  lying 
at  the  bottom  of  the  English  system,  which  produced 
these  results,  not  by  accident,  but  by  a  philosophical 
and  logical  process. 

Such,  then,  have  been  the  results  of  a  reformation 
not  completed.  But  even  these  are  not  the  whole  of 
its  evil  results.  Strype*  speaks  of  a  "dangerous  in- 
crease of  papists,"  and  revolts  to  popery  which  "ap- 
peared in  the  north,  and  other  parts  of  the  realm." 
only  six  years  after  what  was  called  the  settling  of  the 
reformation,  in  Elizabeth's  reign.  In  the  next  reign, 
also,  that  of  James  the  First,  the  tokens  of  a  backward 
movement  were  everywhere  open  to  the  inspection  of 
vigilant  protestant  eyes.  James  was  himself  at  heart 
two  thirds  a  papist;  and  in  the  famous  Hampton  Court 
conference,  in  which  he  presided,  he  so  far  forgot  the 
proper  dignity  both  of  a  king  and  of  a  presiding  officer, 
as  to  enlist  vehemently  in  the  discussion  against  those 
who  opposed  "the  ceremonies,"  which  brought  some  of 
the  popishly-inclined  high  churchmen  upon  their  knees 
to  thank  God  for  such  a  king  as  no  nation  (so  they 

*  Annals  of  the  Ref.,  vol.  i.,  p.  550. 


RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  REFORMATION.  71 

asserted)  ever  before  enjoyed.  Dr.  Barlow,  in  his  re- 
port of  the  king's  speech,  at  the  opening  of  the  confer- 
ence, represents  him  as  saying,  "that  he  had  received 
many  complaints,  since  his  first  entrance  into  the  king- 
dom, especially  through  the  dissensions  in  the  church, 
of  many  disorders,  as  he  heard,  and  much  disobedience 
to  the  laws,  luith  a  great  falling  away  to  popery.^ ^  * 

The  truth  is,  there  have  ahoays^  since  the  days  of 
Edward  VI.,  been  Romish  affinities  and  appetences  in 
the  English  church;  but  the  outward  expression  of 
tliese  affinities  has  of  course  depended  much  on  the  in- 
dividual character  of  its  secular  head.  The  divines  of 
the  church  having  learned,  many  of  them  to  their  sor- 
row, and  others  to  their  joy,  that  the  sovereign's  will 
must  not  be  resisted,  were  always  slow  to  attempt  any 
Romish  innovations,  unless  the  leanings  of  the  occu- 
pants of  the  throne  were  such  as  to  encourage  them. 
Hence,  in  all  those  reigns  from  Elizabeth  to  George  I. 
in  which  the  sovereign  exhibited  any  papal  leaning, 
the  natural  affinities!  of  the  church  immediately  came 
out,  and  she  was  seen  receding  towards  a  papal  bond- 
age; and  hence,  too,  during  all  those  reigns,  the  high 
church  Romanizers  were  the  strong  supporters  of  the 
crown,  and  especially  of  an  established  religion. 

This  fact  will  solve  what  has  been  a  difficulty  to 
some  minds.  Many  have  Avondered  why  the  tractari- 
ans,  or  Romanizers  of  the  present  day,  are  so  anxious 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  establishment;  while  it  is 
warmly  supported  by  the  low  churchmen.  The  diffi- 
culty vanishes  when  it  is  considered  that  for  some  time 
past  the  throne  has  been  occupied  by  frotesiants  ;  and 

*  Cardwell's  Hist,  of  Conferences,  p.  171. 

1 1  do  not  mean  that  the  English  church  has  always  had  affinities 
for  the  grosser  forms  of  the  Roman  theology  and  usage  ;  but  only  for 
those  elementary  principles,  out  of  which,  when  once  embraced,  the 
inofe  abhorrent  mysteries  of  an  idolatrous  faith  are  easily  evolved. 


72  RESULTS  OF  AN  UNFINISHED  KEFORMATION. 

hence  the  low  churchmen  can  sheher  themselves  from 
the  papal  storm  behind  the  throne  and  the  establish- 
ment, while  the  tractarians  find  these  to  be  the  chief 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  "  unprotestantizing"  the  Eng- 
lish church. 

Let  this  fact  be  a  significant  warning  to  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  church  in  the  United  States,  which 
meets  no  such  formidable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  its 
Romeward  movements.  Let  it  be  well  considered 
whether  there  is  anything  which  can  arrest  it,  except 
a  removal  of  the  remains  of  popery  from  its  prayer- 
book  and  homilies.  It  is  a  historic /ac/,  that  the  Eng- 
lish church,  at  every  period  of  its  papal  tendencies,  has 
been  prevented  from  a  total  relapse  to  Romanism  only 
by  the  government.  What  is  to  prevent  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  church  in  the  United  States  from  an  entire 
falling  away  to  popery,  since  no  government  stretches 
out  an  interposing  arm  7  May  God  enable  our  church 
to  meet  this  question  speedily,  and  to  answer  it  faith- 
fully in  the  light  of  history. 


73 


PART  II. 

CAUSES  WHICH  HAVE  PREVENTED  THE  COMPLETION  OF  THE 
REFORMATION  IN  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH,  AND  IN  THE  PROT- 
ESTANT EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

CHAPTER  I. 

TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 

Errors  usually  carry  errors  in  their  train.  A  single 
false  step  in  the  beginning  frequently  prepares  the  way 
for  a  series  of  false  steps.  The  error  already  described, 
of  investing  the  king  with  the  highest  ecclesiastical 
prerogatives,  and  placing  him  at  the  head  of  the  church, 
drev/  after  it  a  long  succession  of  embarrassing  move- 
ments and  practical  absurdities.  The  divines  of  the 
church  were  soon  compelled  to  see  that  nothing  gained 
in  the  reformation  could  be  looked  forward  to  as  abso- 
lutely settled ;  and  especially  that  they  could  calculate 
with  no  certainty  upon  any  advances  in  future.  They 
might  have  the  clearest  views  of  truth,  and  the  best 
resolutions  to  publish  it  to  men ;  but  they  could  not 
say  with  entire  confidence,  truth  is  mighty,  and  will 
prevail ;  for  they  had  no  assurances  that,  for  a  single 
hour,  the  throne  would  be  occupied  by  one  who  would 
either  hold  or  tolerate  protestant  principles.  They 
knew  that  at  any  moment  their  own  mouths  might  be 
stopped,  and  every  truth-telling  tongue  in  the  land  be 
silenced.  They  feU  themselves  fettered  and  embar- 
rassed at  every  step,  and  hedged  about  with  the  capri- 
cious uncertainties,  generally,  of  the  will  of  a  half- 
reformed  sovereign.  The  reformation  which  they  had 
7 


74 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


to  effect,  therefore,  became  a  work  to  be  pushed  to  its 
results,  through  the  winding  and  intricate  mazes  of  an 
involved  and  fickle  state  policy;  liable  at  any  moment 
to  be  interrupted  and  crushed  with  its  authors  under 
the  massive  wheels  of  government.  They  were  like 
men  digging  under  an  overhanging  cliff,  and  liable  to 
be  buried  by  its  sudden  descent  upon  them.  Their 
work,  necessarily,  therefore,  became  one,  to  some 
extent,  of  hesitation,  of  caution.  Every  stone  was 
moved  from  its  place  with  due  reference  to  the  condi- 
tion of  the  massive  rocks  towering  above  them.  The 
sovereign  himself,  who  had  the  whole  control  of  the 
reformation,  was  much  in  the  same  condition.  The 
country  had  been  overrun  with  popery.  To  what  ex- 
tent it  had  been  eradicated  from  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple, was  not  precisely  known.  He  was  surrounded  by 
men  of  every  grade  of  opinion,  from  the  high  papist  to 
the  high  protestant.  Romanism  was  spread,  too,  over 
a  large  part  of  Europe,  and  had  for  ages  been  so  thor- 
oughly mixed  with  politics,  that  this  reformation,  being 
one  for  the  sovereign  to  manage,  was  touched  at  a 
thousand  points  by  the  machinery  of  British  diplo- 
macy. So  that  not  the  divines  only,  but  the  king  was 
tempted  to  move  with  great  caution,  and  even  to  treat 
the  partially  routed  enemy  with  some  consideration. 
In  short,  both  the  sovereign  and  the  divines  were  led 
by  these  causes  to  manifest  more  or  less  of  a  spirit  of 
compromise  with  Romanism.  The  nation  had  large 
numbers  of  Romanists  in  it,  in  every  condition  of  life, 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest.  It  was  not  for  the 
interest  of  the  sovereign  to  drive  them  into  an  attitude 
of  hostility  to  the  government,  and  link  their  power 
and  interest  with  those  of  a  foreign  and  hated  enemy. 
There  were  great  numbers  of  papists,  too,  who  were 
partially  convinced  of  the  rottenness  of  their  own  sys- 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


75 


tern,  and  who  were  ready  to  embrace  protestant  prin- 
ciples to  a  certain  extent.  It  could  hardly  be  expected 
that  a  king  or  queen  who  looked  more  to  the  good  of 
the  state  than  of  the  church  would  deem  it  politic  to 
repel  such.  It  would  rather  be  strange  if  they  did  not 
court  and  flatter  them  by  generous  concessions. 

Exactly  in  harmony  with  these  suggestions  of  rea- 
son, are  the  facts  of  history.  The  following  is  much 
to  the  point : 

"King  Edward's  prayer-book  was  the  first  estab- 
lished book  of  connnon  prayer  in  England,  and  in 
order  to  make  the  transition  from  the  Roman  catholic 
to  the  protestant  religion  as  moderate  as  possible,  and 
thus  reconcile  a  great  number  to  the  change,  its  com- 
pilers allowed  the  word  '  Mass  '  to  stand  as  the  title 
of  the  communion  service."  * 

A  very  important  concession  to  Romanists,  surely,  the 
expediency  of  which  most  protestants  would  deny. 

In  regard  to  the  subject  of  compromise,  bishop  Bur- 
net says : 

"There  was  a  great  variety  of  sentiments  among 
our  reformers  on  the  point  whether  it  was  fit  to  retain 
an  external  face  of  things  near  to  what  had  been  prac- 
tised in  the  times  of  popery,  or  not.  The  doing  that, 
made  the  people  come  easily  into  the  more  real  changes 
that  were  made  in  the  doctrines,  when  they  saw  the 
outward  appearances  so  little  altered :  so  this  method 
seemed  the  safer  and  the  readier  way  to  wean  the 
people  from  the  fondness  they  had  for  a  splendid  face 
of  things,  by  that  which  was  still  kept  up.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  was  said  that  this  kept  up  the  in- 
clination in  the  people  to  the  former  practices :  they 
were  by  these  made  to  think  that  the  reformed  state 

*  Comparison  between  the  Communion  Offices  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church,  p.  21. 


76 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


of  the  church  did  not  differ  much  from  them.  And 
they  apprehended,  that  tliis  outward  resemblance  made 
the  old  root  of  popery  to  live  still  in  their  thoughts ;  so 
that,  if  it  made  them  conform  at  present  more  easily  to 
the  change  that  was  now  made,  it  would  make  it  still 
much  the  easier  for  them  to  fall  back  to  poperij?''  * 

What  else  has  occasioned  the  "falling  back  to 
popery"  at  the  several  periods  of  which  we  spoke  in 
the  last  chapter,  but  the  very  cause  here  assigned  as 
naturally  tending  to  it,  namely,  the  "retaining  an  ex- 
ternal face  of  things  near  to  what  it  had  been  in  the 
times  of  popery?"  But  it  seems  there  were  two  par- 
ties, one  for  retaining  this  external  papal  "face  of 
things;"  the  other,  for  becoming  protestant  in  appear- 
ance as  well  as  fact.  It  is  not  difficult  to  learn  which 
policy  triumphed. 

Take,  for  example,  the  doctrine  of  the  presence  in 
the  sacrament  of  the  supper.  History  is  fidl  on  the 
point  that  the  English  reformers  intended  to  leave  it  so 
unexplained  that  papal  views,  or  those  amounting  to 
about  the  same  thing,  might  be  held  in  the  bosom  of 
the  church.  In  the  liturgy  of  king  Edward,  a  rubric 
was  placed  before  the  communion  service,  explaining 
that  by  kneeling  "no  adoration  was  intended  to  any 
corporal  presence  of  Christ's  natural  flesh  and  blood." 
But  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  "  it  was 
proposed,"  saysBurnet,t  "to  have  the  communion  book 
so  contrived  that  it  might  not  exclude  the  belief  of  the 
corporal  presence :  for  the  chief  design  of  the  queen's 
council  was,  to  unite  the  nation  in  one  faith ;  [another 
evil  result  of  putting  the  sovereign  at  the  head  of  the 
church ;]  and  the  greatest  part  of  the  nation  continued 
to  believe  such  a  presence.  Therefore,  it  was  recom- 
mended to  the  divines,  to  see  that  there  should  be  no 


*  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  258-9.  f  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  606. 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


77 


express  definition  against  it;  that  it  might  lie  as  a 
speculative  opinion,  not  detei^mined,  in  which  every 
man  was  left  to  the  freedom  of  his  own  mind.  Here- 
upon the  rubric  that  explained  the  reason  for  kneeling 
at  the  sacrament  *  *  was  left  out.'''  This  was  after- 
wards, in  1661,  restored,  more  by  accident  than  by 
any  real  wish  to  suppress  the  doctrine  of  the  real  cor- 
poral presence ;  for  it  was  done  just  after  the  Savoy 
Conference,  at  the  time  when  the  changes  were  made 
indicating  an  advance  towards  popery.  "  The  papists," 
says  Burnet,*  "  were  highly  offended,  when  such  an 
express  declaration  was  made  against  the  real  pres- 
ence, and  the  duke  told  me,  that  when  he  asked  Shel- 
den  how  they  came  to  declare  against  a  doctrine, 
which  he  had  been  instructed  was  the  doctrine  of  the 
church,  Shelden  answered,  ask  Gawden  about  it,  who 
is  a  bishop  of  your  own  making."  The  rubric  still 
stands  in  the  English  prayer-book,  but  has  been  left 
out  of  our  liturgy  in  this  country,  —  showing  that  the 
old  compromise  policy  was  adopted  by  our  church, 
and  that  the  improvement  made  in  the  English  prayer- 
book  one  hundred  years  after  what  is  called  the  set- 
tling of  the  reformation,  was  deemed  by  the  fathers  of 
our  church  no  improvement. 

At  the  same  place  in  his  history  of  the  reformation, 
Burnet  assigns  the  same  reason  for  a  change  in  regard 
to  the  sentences  used  at  the  distribution  of  the  bread 
and  wine.  In  king  Edward's  first  liturgy,  as  it  was 
called,  only  the  words,  "  The  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  &c.,  and  "The  blood  of  o  ir  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  <kc.,  were  used.  The  most  thorough  protest- 
ants  objected  to  these  words,  when  used  in  such  con- 
nection, as  fostering  the  Roman  idea  of  the  corporal 

*  Hist,  his  Own  Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  161. 
7* 


78 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


presence;  and  as  the  protestant  influence  was  then 
predominant,  these  sentences  were  struck  out  in  the 
second  Uturgy  of  Edward,  and  the  words,  "  Take,  eat 
this  in  remembrance  that  Christ  died  for  thee,"  &c.,  and 
"Drink  this  in  rememhrance^^^  &c.,  —  words  expressing 
the  true  protestant  idea,  —  Avere  substituted  for  them. 
But  the  Romanists  being  offended  at  this,  the  com- 
promise principle  was  resorted  to,  and  in  the  first  of 
Ehzabeth's  reign,  the  difiicuky  was  settled  to  the  satis- 
faction of  all  parties,  by  restoring  the  sentences  which 
had  been  cast  away,  and  retaining  those  which  had 
been  substituted  for  them.  And  thus,  the  sentences 
which  express  the  Romish  idea,  and  those  which  repre- 
sent the  protestant  doctrine,  have  stood  side  by  side,  or 
rather  one  above  the  other,  to  the  present  time.  Bishop 
Brownell,  in  his  commentary  on  the  prayer-book, 
mentions  these  changes,  but  carefully  avoids  giving 
the  reasons. 

Strype  relates*  that,  in  1559,  the  bishops  of  the 
church  allowed  popish  priests,  Avho  had  been  openly 
such  under  Mary,  to  retain  their  places  and  officiate  as 
parish  ministers,  without  any  renunciation  of  their 
errors,  or  any  profession  of  protestant  principles.  And 
this  state  of  things  continued  for  a  number  of  years, 
though  many  of  these  persons  were  known  to  favor 
Romanism  secretly,  and  to  do  whatever  they  could  to 
draw  their  people  away  from  the  protestant  religion. 

The  commission  appointed  by  Charles  II.,  1662,  to 
revise  the  liturgy,  consisted  of  two  classes  of  persons : 
the  "ministers,"  who  desired  alterations  and  improve- 
ments in  the  common  prayer;  and  the  "bishops,"  who 
resisted  all  movements  towards  such  an  end.  The 
ministers,  in  an  address  to  the  sovereign,  say. 

*  Annals  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  i.,  p.  176. 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


79 


"  We  humbly  desire  that  it  may  be  seriously  consid- 
ered, that  as  our  first  reformers,  out  of  their  great  wis- 
dom, did  at  that  time  so  comjjose  the  liturgy  as  to  win 
tipon  the  papists,  and  to  draw  them  into  their  church 
communion,  by  varying  as  little  as  they  well  could  from 
the  Romish  forms  before  hi  use  ;  so  whether  in  the 
present  constitution,  and  state  of  things  amongst  us,  we 
should  not,  according  to  the  same  rule  of  prudence  and 
charity,  have  our  liturgy  so  composed  as  to  gain  upon 
the  judgments  and  atfection  of  all  those  who  in  the  sub- 
stantials  of  the  protestant  are  of  the  same  persuasions 
with  ourselves."* 

To  this,  the  bishops,"  who  were  in  the  same  com- 
mission, respond  in  a  way  which  concedes  even  more 
than  the  "ministers"  here  urge.    They  say, 

"  It  7oas  the  loisdom  of  our  reformers  to  draw  up 
such  a  litxirgy  as  neither  Romanist  nor  protestant 
could  justly  except  against ;  and  therefore  as  the  first 
never  charged  it  with  any  positive  errors,  but  only  the 
want  of  something  they  conceived  necessary,  so  it  was 
never  found  fault  with  by  those  to  whom  the  name  of 
protestants  most  properly  belongs,  those  that  profess 
the  Augustan  confession ;  and  for  those  who  unlaAV- 
fuUy  and  sinfully  brought  it  into  dislike  with  some 
people,  to  urge  the  present  state  of  affairs  as  an  argu- 
ment why  the  book  should  be  altered,  to  give  them 
satisfaction,  and  so  that  they  should  take  advantage 
by  their  own  im warrantable  acts,  is  not  reasonable."! 

Facts  like  the  above  might  be  multiplied  to  a  con- 
siderable extent;  but  these  are  sufficient.  I  will 
simply  add  the  express  declaration  of  Burnet,  that  the 
reformation  was  conducted,  to  some  extent,  on  this  prin- 

*  Cardwell's  Hist,  of  Conferences,  &c.,  p.  305.    Baxter's  Life  by 
Sylvester,  B.  I.,  P.  2.,  p.  316. 
t  Cardwell's  Hist.  Conferences,  &c.,  p.  338. 


80 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


ciple ;  and  no  man  has  ever  studied  both  its  outward 
movements  and  its  secret  springs  more  thoroughly 
than  he.    He  says : 

"  Many  of  these  things,  [that  is,  ceremonies,]  were 
retained  at  the  reformation,  to  draw  the  people  more 
entirely  into  it ;  who  are  apt  to  judge,  especially  in 
things  of  ignorance,  by  outward  appearances  more 
than  by  the  real  value  of  things ;  so  the  preserving  an 
exterior  thai  looked  somewhat  like  what  they  had  been 
formerly  accustomed  to,  without  doubt  had  a  great 
effect  at  first  on  many  persons,  who,  without  that,  could 
not  have  been  easily  brought  over*  to  adhere  to  the 
ivork."-\- 

A  strongly  presumptive  argument  in  favor  of  this 
view  might  be  found  in  the  extent  to  which  this  com- 
promise principle  prevails  in  our  own  church ;  for  it 
we  are  distinguished  for  anything,  it  is  for  the  assi- 
duity witli  which  we  have  cherished  those  principles, 
and  only  those,  which  can  claim  the  sanction  of  an 
early  recognition  in  what  we  have  so  pertinaciously 
called  our  mother  church  of  England.  It  will  not  be 
worth  while,  however,  to  push  a  merely  presumptive 
argument  to  any  great  extent ;  and  I  shall  only  offer 
one  fact. 

Some  five  or  six  years  since,  while  living  in  a 
neighboring  town,  I  undertook  to  write  the  principal 
part  of  the  editorial  matter  for  the  Christian  Witness. 
The  policy  of  the  Witness  had  been,  up  to  that  time, 
to  say  very  little  about  tractarianism,  with  the  general 
view,  I  believe,  of  avoiding  all  excitement  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  of  keeping  its  readers  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 

*  This  is  precisely  like  employing  heathen  rites  and  ceremonies,  in 
order  to  bring  over  heathens  to  the  reception  of  Christianity.  Such  a 
policy  may  succeed  in  transferring  them  from  one  system  to  another, 
but  it  leaves  their  hearts  and  prejudices  the  same. 

t  Hist,  of  his  Own  Times,  vol.  ii.,  p.  636. 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


81 


there  was  any  such  thing  in  the  Episcopal  church. 
Soon  after  beginning  to  write  for  it,  I  saw  and  felt 
deeply  the  need  of  some  earnest  and  reiterated  protest 
in  its  columns  on  this  subject.  I  began,  therefore,  and 
for  about  two  years  continued  my  earnest  appeals  to 
the  managers  of  the  paper  in  Boston,  to  open  its  col- 
umns to  a  bold  and  fearless  discussion  of  a  subject 
more  fearfully  important  than  almost  any  other.  I 
was  repulsed  again  and  again  ;  was  told  that  such  a 
discussion  would  disturb  the  peace  of  the  church ; 
would  loosen  the  attachment  of  many  laymen  to  it  by 
making  them  acquainted  with  a  greater  amount  of 
mischief  in  it  than  they  had  supposed  to  exist, — in 
short,  that  if  the  whole  subject  were  let  alone,  Pusey- 
ism  would  soon  die  of  itself  On  the  other  hand,  I 
urged  that  the  danger  was  much  greater  than  was 
generally  apprehended;  that  Puseyism,  if  let  alone, 
would,  instead  of  dying  out,  overnm  and  blight  our 
denomination ;  that  the  Witness  itself,  if  it  remained 
silent,  would  either  be  swept  along  into  tractarianism, 
or  by-and  by,  would  resist  only  to  its  own  destruction, 
and  be  torn  in  pieces  by  being  thrown  in  the  face  of  a 
breeze  rapidly  swelling  to  a  gale. 

My  appeals  were  ineffectual ;  and  the  sentinels  of 
the  press  as  well  as  the  public  conscience  slept,  until 
the  Carey  ordination,  in  1843,  sent  a  shock  of  terror 
through  the  heart  of  the  denomination,  and  caused 
every  writer,  not  infected  by  the  heresy,  to  grasp  his 
pen,  as  men  grasp  their  swords  when  an  invading 
naval  fleet  suddenly  pours  its  thousands  of  armed 
warriors  upon  their  shores.  The  editor  in  Boston,  — 
a  gentleman  whom  I  shall  always  respect  for  his 
amiable  and  manly  qualities,  —  made  a  full  statement 
of  the  case,  together  with  some  stringent  and  appro- 
priate remarks.    The  following  week,  in  the  midst  of 


82 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


the  excitement,  I  slipped  in  an  article,  of  four  columns 
in  length,  reviewing  the  principles  involved  in  the  case, 
in  an  earnest  tone.  At  this,  a  large  proportion  of  the 
clergy  were  much  disturbed,  and  censures  were  freely- 
passed  upon  the  Witness  in  various  quarters.  About 
two  weeks  after,  the  Banner  of  the  Cross,  a  very  high 
church  paper  m  Philadelphia,  came  out  with  an  edito- 
rial, charging  the  Witness  with  disturbing  the  peace 
of  the  church  against  the  wishes  of  the  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  and  asserting  that  it  had  authority  from  a  pri- 
vate source  on  which  it  could  rely  for  making  the 
assertion.  The  private  informant  was  supposed  to 
have  been  another  editor  of  the  Witness,  residing  in 
another  town.  Our  worthy  bishop  immediately  sent 
a  letter  to  the  Banner  of  the  Cross,  saying  that  while 
he  agreed  with  the  conductors  of  the  Witness  in  their 
general  views  of  christian  doctrine,  and  of  tractarian- 
ism,  he  yet  disapproved  of  their  course  in  disturbing 
his  diocese  with  alarms  which  he  did  not  believe  to  be 
necessary.  To  make  the  matter  more  perplexing,  the 
other  editor  of  the  Witness  alluded  to,  who  highly  dis- 
approved of  what  myself  and  the  Boston  editor  had  writ- 
ten, preached  a  sermon  soon  after,  and  had  it  inserted 
in  the  Witness,  in  which  he  attempted  to  smooth  over 
the  whole  matter,  took  ground  directly  opposite  to  that 
which  we  had  taken,  and,  in  fact,  made  the  paper 
appear  perfectly  self-condemned  and  contemptible. 
He  referred  to  the  views  of  Dr.  Pusey  and  of  other 
tractarians;  and  affirmed  that  though  they  were 
unsound,  yet,  according  to  the  theory  of  the  church, 
they  ought  to  be  tolerated.  He  declared  alarm  to  be 
entirely  unnecessary,  and  deprecated  any  attempt  to 
raise  it. 

This  appeal  to  the  compromise  prmciple  was  so  well 
received,  and  so  generally  conceded  to  be  in  harmony 


TOLERANCE  OF  ROMISH  ERROR. 


83 


with  the  accredited  policy  of  the  church,  that  the  Bos- 
ton managers  of  the  Witness  did  not  dare  to  reject  it ; 
and  the  paper  was  obliged  to  retire  from  the  advanced 
position  it  liad  taken. 

Tliis  convinced  me  more  thoroughly  than  ever 
where  the  true  source  of  our  difficulties  lay ;  and  I 
immediately  began  the  treatise  now  published ;  but 
not  finding  any  suitable  channel  for  conveying  it  to 
the  public,  I  only  made  a  beginning.  I  do  not  regret 
that  it  did  not  appear  then,  as  my  mind  has  now  had 
time  to  mould  the  general  subject  into  a  better  form. 

The  reader  will  easily  see  that  a  reformation  con- 
ducted on  a  principle  of  compromise  with  Rome  could 
not,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  completed.  A  com- 
plete reformation  concedes  nothing  to  the  enemy.  It 
is  absurd  to  talk  of  casting  out  all  of  Romanism,  and 
yet  gratify  Romanists  by  retaining  some  things  to 
please  them. 


84 


CHAPTER  n. 

INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 

Had  the  early  divines  of  the  Enghsh  church  been 
permitted  to  exercise  their  christian  judgment  in 
reforming  rehgion,  without  let  or  hindrance,  the  papis- 
tical ceremonies  retained  in  the  services  would,  at  an 
early  period,  have  been  swept  to  the  oblivion  they  so 
justly  merit.  But  this  they  were  not  allowed  to  do. 
They  had  conceded  to  the  crown  the  "  power  to  visit 
and  reform  all  heresies,  errors  and  other  abuses,  which 
in  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  ought  to  be  reformed ;"  had 
allowed  this  to  be  enacted  by  parliament ;  and  had  thus 
divested  themselves  of  all  right  save  that  of  petition. 
And,  therefore,  though  the  great  body  of  the  clergy  in 
the  Convocation  of  1662  were  decidedly  in  favor  of 
removing  all  the  ceremonies  having  a  papal  aspect ; 
though  the  opposition  to  them  among  the  clergy  during 
the  first  thirty  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign  was  so  gen- 
eral that  they  conscientiously  abstained  from  supply- 
ing eight  thousand  out  of  the  ten  thousand  churches  in 
the  kingdom ;  though  a  strong  effort  was  made  to  get 
rid  of  them  at  the  Hampton  Court  conference  in  the 
reign  of  James  I.,  another  at  the  Savoy  conference  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  H..  and  still  another  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  commission  in  that  of 
William  and  Mary ;  though  one  thousand  ministers  of 
the  established  church  met  James  I.,  on  his  way  to  the 
throne,  and  presented  him  with  the  famous  "  millenary 
petition,"  [the  clergy  had  the  right  of  petition!]  pray- 
ing for  a  removal  of  the  remaining  ceremonies ;  yet 
they  were  not  removed.    The  occupant  of  the  throne 


INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 


85 


said  nay ;  and  so  the  reformation  was  not  carried  to 
the  extent  which  the  church  through  several  ages 
desired. 

But  the  mischief  of  a  secular  headship  of  the  church 
did  not  end  here.  When  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy 
Avas  given  to  the  sovereign,  it  was  a  Tudor  who  occu- 
pied the  throne ;  and  when  the  effort  was  made  in 
1559  and  onward  to  destroy  the  last  vestiges  of  papacy, 
it  was  a  Tudor  again  who  swayed  the  sceptre ;  and  a 
Tudor  would  brook  no  contradiction  or  resistance. 
Nothing  made  Henry  VIII.  more  restive  than  for  the 
clergy  to  resist  his  will  in  regard"to  any  religious  mat- 
ter respecting  which  he  chose  to  decree  uniformity. 
And  when  certain  of  the  clergy,  in  Elizabeth's  reign, 
neglected  to  comply  with  the  ceremonies,  and  it  came 
to  the  queen's  ears,  she  was  angry,  and  wrote  to  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  reflecting  with  severity  on 
his  remissness  in  neglecting  to  enforce  the  act  of  uni- 
formity;  and  "  requiring  him,  that,  with  the  assistance 
of  other  bishops,  commissioned  by  her  for  causes  eccle- 
siastical, he  should  give  strict  orders,  that  all  diversi- 
ties and  varieties,  both  among  the  clergy  and  the  people, 
might  be  reformed  and  repressed;  and  that-all  should 
be  brought  to  one  manner  of  uniformity,  through 
the  whole  kingdom,  that  so  the  people  might  quietly 
honor  and  serve  God."*  Strypef  reports  the  queen's 
letter  more  fully,  and  represents  her  as  saying,  among 
other  things,  "  that  she,  considering  the  authority  given 
her  of  God  for  the  defence  of  public  peace  and  truth  in 
the  church,  meant  not  any  longer  to  suffer  these  evils 
thus  to  proceed,  spread  and  increase  in  her  realm ;  but 
certainly  determined  to  have  all  such  diversities  and 
novelties  among  the  clergy  and  people  (breeding  noth- 

*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  460. 
t  Annals  of  the  Ref.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  460-1 
8 


86 


INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 


ing  but  contention  and  offence,  and  being  against  the 
laws,  good  usages  and  ordinances  of  the  realm)  to  be 
reformed  and  repressed,  and  brought  to  one  manner  of 
uniformity  through  the  whole  realm."  *  *  *  "And 
in  time  to  come,  charging  him  [the  archbishop] 
straightly,  to  provide  and  enjoin  in  her  name,  in  all 
places  of  his  province,  that  none  hereafter  be  admit- 
ted into  any  office,  cure  or  place  ecclesiastical,  but 
such  as  should  be  found  well  disposed  to  common 
order,"  that  is,  uniformity  in  the  use  of  the  ceremo- 
nies. 

Here  was  the  root  of  the  difficulty.  The  queen  not 
only  compelled  the  retaining  of  many  ceremonies 
against  the  wishes  of  the  clergy,  but  she  enforced 
their  observance.  And  from  this  time  forward,  except 
at  particular  times  and  to  a  limited  extent,  there  was 
no  toleration  for  those  who  disapproved  of  the  remains 
of  popery.  The  best  protestant  divines  in  the  church 
were  silenced  because  they  could  not  conscientiously 
comply,  and  the  church  deprived  of  their  services ; 
while  Roman  priests,  known  to  be  such  in  heart,  were 
allowed  to  officiate  at  her  altars.*  Thus  the  bishops 
and  clergy  were  being  trained  to  a  tolerance  of  error  in 
doctrine,  and  an  intolerance  of  purity  in  worship ;  a 
training  to  which  they  were  subjected  under  several 
succeeding  reigns,  until  these  principles  were  thor- 
oughly wrought  into  their  moral  constitution.  I 
have  already  alluded  to  the  fact  that  eight  thou- 
sand parish  churches  were  suffered  to  go  unsupplied. 
rather  than  permit  those  to  officiate  who  would  not 
conform  to  the  senseless  usages.  Those  members 
of  the  church  who  would  not  comply  in  the  days 
of  Laud,  were,  in  the  language  of  the  London  Chris- 


*Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.,  p.  178. 


INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 


87 


tian  Observer,  "fined,  and  whipped,  and  dungeoned," 
till  they  were  thought  to  he  "  effectually  subdued." 
A  historian  relates  that  they  were  fined  in  the  star 
chamber,  till  many  of  them  were  reduced  from  afflu- 
ence to  beggary;  and  the  fines  were  aggravated  to 
meet  the  expense  of  repairs  on  St.  Paul's  cathedral, 
which  gave  birth  to  the  saying,  that  the  church  was 
built  with  the  sins  of  the  people.*  And  so  severe 
were  the  ceremonial  persecutions  at  this  period,  that 
Dr.  Alexander  Leigh  ton,  father  of  the  celebrated  arch- 
bishop, for  publishing  an  appeal  to  parliament,  was 
brought  into  the  star  chamber,  and  had  a  sentence 
passed  upon  him,  the  execution  of  which  is  thus 
recorded  in  Laud's  diary.  "His  ears  were  cut  off,  his 
nose  slit,  his  face  branded  with  burning  irons ;  he  was 
tied  to  a  post,  and  whipped  with  a  treble  cord,  of 
which  every  lash  brought  away  his  flesh.  He  was 
kept  in  the  pillory  near  two  hours,  in  frost  and  snow." 
The  historian  adds,  that  he  was  then  imprisoned,  with 
peculiar  severity,  for  about  eleven  years ;  and  when 
released  by  the  parliament,  he  could  neither  hear  not 
see,  nor  walk.f  When  this  sentence  was  pronounced 
in  the  star  chamber.  Laud's  gratification  was  such, 
that  he  publicly  pulled  off  his  cap  and  gave  God 
thanks.  Under  such  persecutions,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  dissentients  began  to  turn  their  attention  to 
foreign  lands,  and  to  say  to  each  other,  "  The  sun 
shines  as  pleasantly  on  America  as  on  England,  and 
the  Sim  of  Righteousness  much  more  clearly."  Neal 
states  that  he  had  a  list  of  seventy-seven  divines 
ordained  in  the  church  of  England,  who  became  pas- 
tors of  emigrant  churches  in  America,  as  early  as  pre- 
vious to  the  year  1640. 

*  Bogue  and  Bennett's  Dissenters,  vol.  i.,  p.  79. 
t  Pierce,  p.  179. 


88  INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 

Thus  were  the  ceremonies  upheld,  not  by  reason  or 
argument, — for  they  admit  of  no  defence  on  these 
grounds, — but  by  the  power  of  the  royal  prerogatives, 
by  acts  of  parliament,  by  the  star  chamber,  <fcc.,  until 
by  numerous  additions  made  to  them,  they  became  too 
heavy  a  freight  of  iniquity,  and  sunk  the  ship  of 
church  and  state  in  her  own  harbor,  making  room  for 
unfurling  the  flag  of  the  commonwealth. 

On  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  and,  with  him,  the 
restoration  of  the  church,  one  would  have  supposed 
that  milder  measures  would  have  governed  the  coun- 
cils of  the  nation ;  and  such  seems  to  have  been  the 
wish  of  many.  But  the  Savoy  conference  soon  put  an 
end  to  such  hopes  on  the  part  of  any  who  might  have 
indulged  them.  "In  the  convocation,"  says  a  histo- 
rian, "the  prayer-book  was  altered  from  bad  to  worse." 
The  points  debated  were,  the  apocryphal  lessons,  com- 
pulsory kneeling  at  the  Lord's  supper,  the  use  of  the 
surplice,  the  cross  in  baptism,  sponsors  in  baptism,  and 
ecclesiastical  holy  days.  The  bishops  declined  any  rea- 
sonable concessions,  and  "the  conference,"  says  bishop 
Burnet,  "  broke  up  Avithout  doing  any  good."  And  not 
only  so:  but  Burnet  says  further,  that  "  now  all  concern 
that  seemed  to  employ  the  bishops'  thoughts  was,  not 
only  to  make  no  alterations  on  their  (the  Presbyteri- 
ans') account,  but  to  make  the  terms  of  conformity 
much  stricter  than  they  had  been  before  the  war."  * 
The  result  was,  that,  instead  of  relaxing  at  all,  and 
mending  the  prayer-book,  it  was  the  next  year  made, 
as  above  expressed,  "  from  bad  to  worse."  New  holy 
days  were  added,  as  St.  Barnabas,  and  the  cotiversion 
of  St.  Paul;  and  the  reasonable  objections  to  the  apoc- 
ryphal lessons  in  the  calendar  were  met  by  adding  to 


*  Burnet's  Hist,  of  his  Own  Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  182. 


INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 


89 


them  the  edifying  story  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon ! "  * 
And  to  crown  the  follies  of  this  petiod,  an  act  of  uni- 
formity in  the  observance  of  the  ceremonies  was  passed 
in  1662,  which  took  effect  on  St.  Bartholomew's  day, 
and  expelled  two  thousand  of  its  best  and  purest  di- 
vines from  the  established  church.  And  to  make  the 
persecution  as  severe  as  possible,  St.  Bartholomew's 
day  was  chosen  for  the  act  to  take  effect,  because  their 
yearly  salaries  became  due  a  few  days  after,  of  which 
they  were  by  this  means  deprived. f  The  celebrated 
Mr.  Locke  styles  these  two  thousand  ejected  ministers, 
learned,  pious  and  orthodox  divines. 

Nor  did  the  persecuting  spirit  end  with  this  period. 
James  II.  came  to  the  throne  with  an  honest  avowal 
of  popery  in  his  mouth.  Under  him,  the  opposers  of  a 
ceremonialism  were  persecuted  with  increased  violence. 
"Availing  himself  of  Monmouth's  rebellion^  to  crush 
the  enemies  of  popery  and  arbitrary  power,  the  king 
turned  his  realm  into  a  slaughter-house;  of  which 
Judge  Jeffreys  was  the  grand  butcher.^  After  his 
western  circuit,  the  quarters  of  several  hundred  per- 
sons were  hung  up  all  over  the  country,  for  fifty  or 
sixty  miles."  ||  This  state  of  things  continued  for  a 
time,  but  was  alleviated  by  a  considerable  amendment, 
before  the  revolution,  which  brought  to  the  throne  Wil- 
liam of  Orange.  Between  the  restoration  and  the  rev- 
olution, a  period  of  less  than  thirty  years,  sixty  thou- 
sand are  said  to  have  suffered  for  dissent,  of  whom 
five  thousand  died  in  prison.  And  during  the  three 
reigns  which  preceded  this  period,  namely,  those  of 
Elizabeth,  James  I.,  and  Charles  I.,  large  numbers  of 
the  best  ministers  were  ejected  from  the  church,  and 

*  Burnet's  Hist,  of  his  Own  Times,  vol.  i.,  p  182. 

t  Ibid.,  vol  i.,  p.  184.       %  Warner,  p.  631.       §  Pierce,  263  —  4. 

II  Bogue  and  Bennett's  Dissenters,  vol.  i.,  p.  105. 

8* 


90  INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 

prevented  from  preaching  the  gospel  to  perishing 
souls.*  Bishops  spent  much  of  their  time  in  hunting 
out  of  the  church  those  who  could  not  conform  to  every 
ceremony.  And  when  one  of  them  applied  to  a  noble- 
man for  his  influence  with  the  bishop  in  his  behalf, 
the  answer  he  received  was,  "Had  you  been  guilty 
of  drunkenness,  or  grosser  immoralities,  I  could  have 
procured  you  relief;  but  if  you  cannot  comply  with 
the  ceremonies,  you  are  undone.  It  is  a  crime  in 
the  eyes  of  the  bishop  for  which  there  is  no  forgive- 
ness." 

The  accession  of  William  to  the  throne  brought  an 
"act  of  toleration,"  which  has  been  called  the  dissent- 
ers' Magna  Charta.  By  it,  they  were  thenceforward 
exempted  from  the  legal  penalties  annexed  to  non-con- 
formity. 

Thus  I  have  briefly  stated  the  cause  which  prevent- 
ed an  entire  removal  from  the  English  ritual  of  all  the 

*  What  an  awful  violaiion  of  all  the  principles  of  the  gospel,  to 
shitt  the  mouths  of  thousands  of  preachers,  —  depriving  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  souls  of  christian  instruction,  —  merely  because  they 
would  not  employ  a  few  senseless  Eomish  rites !  Whence  did  the 
church  of  England  derive  the  authority  to  fasten  such  ceremonies  upon 
the  consciences  of  ministers,  and  to  deprive  the  world  of  their  labors, 
in  case  of  a  refusal  to  comply  ?  Not  from  the  word  of  God,  surely, 
for  that  is  full  of  instruction  of  an  opposite  kind. 

Men  often  talk  of  schisms  produced  by  puritans  and  non-conform- 
ists. It  is  a  perversion  of  truth.  Whatever  schism  was  effected,  it 
must  lie  at  the  door  of  the  established  church.  That  church  imposed 
ceremonies  which  Christ  never  enjoined.  It  enforced  its  burdensome 
ceremonial  as  an  essential  thing  ;  whereas  Christ  made  an  overgrown 
ceremonial  unlawful,  and  even  a  simple  one  indifferent.  This  church 
put  a  yoke  upon  the  necks  of  its  people  which  Christ  never  designed 
or  wished  them  to  bear.  They  had  a  right  to  reject  it ;  nay,  they 
were  bound  to  reject  it,  under  the  circumstances.  They  saw  that  they 
could  not  labor  with  acceptance  among  the  people  while  they  used 
such  ceremonies.  It  was  a  plain  scriptural  duty,  therefore,  to  cast 
them  off  as  they  would  anything  else  that  hindered  the  gospel  from 
havmg  a  free  course.  And  when  no  alternative  was  left  them  save 
compliance  or  ejection  from  the  church,  the  schism  was  plainly  on 
the  English  establishment. 


INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 


91 


papal  ceremonies.  Again  and  again  the  better  sense 
of  the  church  declared  against  them;  but  the  royal 
mandates,  the  acts  of  parliament,  the  sentences  of  the 
star-chamber,  the  watchful  intolerance  of  the  bishops, 
the  whip,  the  rack,  the  pillory,  the  dungeon,  the  ex- 
patriation, overmastered  the  protestant  feelings  of  the 
national  church,  and  drove  tlie  ministers  and  people 
into  co?nplia7ice.  This  compliance,  however,  could  be 
effected  only  by  one  additional  measure.  When  the 
dissenters  in  the  church  became  so  numerous  as  to 
make  it  probable  that  they  would  soon  carry  all  the 
people  with  them,  they  were  cast  out.  When  argu- 
ments failed,  as  they  always  did,  expulsion  from  the 
church  came  to  their  aid. 

A  hundred  and  thirty  years'  school  of  intolerance 
towards  dissent  was  not  lost  upon  the  national  church. 
Its  clergy  were  thoroughly  drilled  into  the  belief  that 
opposition  to  any  portion  of  the  ceremonial  of  the 
church,  though  no  longer  punishable  by  fine  and  im- 
prisonment, was  a  very  grave  offence,  and  punishable, 
at  least,  by  a  complete  moral  proscription.  And  since 
the  passage  of  the  toleration  act,  dissent  has  not  been 
starved  by  fines,  or  wasted  by  imprisonment ;  but  it 
has  been  silenced  and  crushed  in  the  church  by  a  pro- 
scription which  brings  loss  of  influence,  loss  of  place, 
loss  of  church  caste,  and  loss  of  the  means  of  useful- 
ness. 

These  remarks  are  painfully  illustrated  in  the  treat- 
ment of  those  eminent  servants  of  God,  John  and 
Charles  Wesley.  These  gentlemen  were  warm,  at- 
tached and  steadfast  friends  of  the  church  of  England, 
as  by  law  established.  When  invested  with  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  gospel  ministry,  they  found  that 
church  cumbered  with  a  spirit  of  worldliness,  and 
doing  little  to  make  the  spiritual  truths  of  the  gospel 


92  INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 

felt  among  their  countrymen.  It  was  their  special 
calling,  as  they  believed^  to  break  the  slumbers  of  that 
church,  to  raise  it  up  to  the  gospel  standard,  and  to  re- 
kindle within  it  the  light  of  the  reformation.  With 
this  noble  purpose  in  view,  they  labored  in  season  and 
out  of  season,  preaching  Jesus  and  him  crucified 
wherever  they  went. 

Their  object  was  a  noble  one,  and  with  noble  enthu- 
siasm did  they  pursue  it.  And  how  were  their  labors 
received?  By  the  poorer  classes  of  the  people  with 
joy  and  thanksgiving.  By  the  clergy  and  the  aristoc- 
racy, they  were  treated  with  scorn  and  contempt. 
The  pulpits  of  the  established  church  were  closed 
against  them,  and  they  Avere  driven  out  into  the  high- 
ways, and  the  fields,  where  they  were  often  made  to 
feel  the  violence  of  the  multitudes,  excited  against 
them  by  the  high  church  supporters  of  formalism  and 
exact  conformity.  Nor  have  these  annoying,  unchris- 
tian persecutions  ceased,  until  a  host  of  warm-hearted, 
pious,  energetic,  and  chivalrous  christians  have  been 
pushed  entirely  off  the  platform  of  the  establishment, 
and  practically  compacted  into  a  firm,  united,  high-re- 
solving body  of  dissent. 

In  our  own  church,  the  lesson  of  proscription  has 
been  well  learned  from  the  mother  church  of  England. 
So  imperative  have  become  the  demands  for  a  compli- 
ance with  the  j)rescribed  notions  among  us,  that  very 
few  have  the  courage  to  hold  themselves  apart  from 
their  adoption,  and  to  spurn  the  bondage  fastened  upon 
the  mind  by  them.  I  speak  only  what  is  generally 
known,  and  what  those  in  bondage  must  themselves 
acknowledge,  when  I  say  there  is  no  alternative,  save 
compliance  on  the  one  hand,  or  proscription  on  the 
other.  However  liberal  our  church  may  be  in  doc- 
trinal matters,  it  has  no  liberality  in  regard  to  the  use- 


INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 


93 


less  things  of  which  I  have  been  speaking.  A  man 
may  have  all  the  latitude  he  can  ask  in  selecting  his 
own  mode  of  explaining  doctrines.  He  may  be  a  Cal- 
vinist,  or  an  Arminian,  or  take  his  stand  somewhere 
between  the  two,  and  the  Episcopal  church  asks  him 
no  questions.  He  may  have  any  range  in  his  mode  of 
explaining  even  the  great  doctrines  of  grace,  and  may 
even  embrace  many  doctrines  peculiar  to  the  apostate 
church  of  Rome — nay,  the  offices  of  his  church  have 
been  so  "co/i^r/werf,"  as  Burnet  expresses  it,  that  he 
may  have  a  wide  sweep  here,  and  free  himself  from 
restraint.  But  the  moment  he  begins  to  adapt  himself 
to  mere  externals,  the  non-essentials  of  his  religion,  he 
finds  the  executors  of  the  church's  laws  cutting  from 
him  a  pound  of  flesh  here,  and  two  pounds  there,  lop- 
ping off"  something  of  his  length,  or  stretching  him  out 
to  the  right  degree  of  elongation,  until  he  answers  in 
every  particular  to  the  prescribed  pattern.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  dwell  on  the  absurdity,  nay,  the  wicked- 
ness, of  such  a  state  of  things. 

These,  then,  as  I  have  described  them  in  this  and  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  are  the  causes  which  have  pre- 
vented the  completion  of  the  reformation  in  the  Epis- 
copal churches  of  England  and  America  —  a  tolerance 
of  error  in  doctrine,  and  an  intolerance  of  purity  in 
worship.  These  are  historical  facts,  which  lie  open  to 
the  eyes  of  all  men,  and  which  cannot  be  gainsaid. 
In  this  tolerance,  and  this  intolerance,  the  divines  of 
these  churches  have  been  trained  through  a  long  suc- 
cession of  years ;  and  no  man  can  study  the  standards 
and  ephemeral  writings  of  these  churches,  entering 
into  their  spirit  approvingly,  and  imbuing  his  mind 
with  them,  without  becoming  tolerant  of  error,  even 
though  he  does  not  himself  embrace  error,  and  intoler- 
ant of  piuity  in  worship,  even  though  he  is  not  much 


94 


INTOLERANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 


attached  to  the  rags  of  popery  which  hang  about  our 
services.  The  same  tolerance  of  error  which,  in  the 
days  of  Ehzabeth,  attempted  to  conciliate  the  Roman- 
ists, is  seen  in  the  sermon  of  which  I  spoke  in  the  last 
chapter,  as  published  in  the  Witness,  and  in  scores  of 
sermons,  pamphlets,  newspapers,  and  books,  published 
by  those  who  are  called  moderate  men  all  over  the 
United  States ;  and  the  same  intolerance  of  purity  in 
worship,  which,  as  the  London  Christian  Observer 
says,  "had  fined,  and  whipped,  and  dungeoned  the 
puritans,  both  in  and  out  of  the  church,  and  with  them 
the  old-fashioned  Anglican  churchmen,  till  they  were 
thought  to  be  effectually  subdued,"  has  been  visited, 
in  the  shape  of  proscription,  upon  the  head  of  the 
writer  of  this  volume,  because  he  has  dared  to  revive 
the  objections  to  the  remains  of  popery.  He  has  been 
met  by  his  old  friends  with  averted  looks,  and  cold 
salutations ;  has  been  told  plainly  that,  for  holding  and 
publishing  these  opinions,  his  influence  was  gone ;  has 
had  the  attempt  made  to  push  him  out  of  the  church, 
by  circulating  the  report  that  he  had  left  it ;  and  in 
public  places,  with  great  vehemence,  has  been  repeat- 
edly denounced  as  a  traitor  to  his  church. 

It  is  high  time  that  the  whole  subject  of  our  doc- 
trines, polity,  and  ritual,  were  thrown  open  to  free  and 
full  discussion.  They  are  fair  subjects  of  discussion ; 
and  it  is  disgrace  enough  that,  to  near  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  they  have  been  excluded  vi  et 
armis,  from  the  circle  of  free  inquiry.  "  An  open  Bi- 
ble and  a  free  conscience,"  with  freedom  of  speech  and 
the  blessing  of  God ;  these  are  all  I  plead  for.  If  our 
ritual  will  not  bear  the  light  shed  upon  it  from  these 
sources,  the  sooner  it  is  riddled  the  better.  Claiming 
this  freedom  of  inquiry  as  my  christian  birthright,  and 
in  the  exercise  of  it,  asking  no  man  or  men's  permis- 


JNTOLEKANCE  OF  PURITY  IN  WORSHIP. 


95 


sion,  and  at  the  same  time  recognizing  and  respecting 
all  other  men's  rights,  I  invite  the  reader  to  accom- 
pany me  in  a  free  investigation  of  the  prayer-book, 
in  the  theological  branch  of  my  subject  next  claiming 
attention. 


96 


PART  III. 
THE   THEOLOGICAL  ARGUMENT. 

THE  PRAYER-BOOK  NEVER  FULLY  PURGED  OF  THE  REMAINS 
OF  PAPAL  ERROR. 

CHAPTER  I. 

METHOD  OF  INTERPRETING  THE  PRAYER-BOOK. 

The  men  who  conducted  the  reformation  in  the  Eng- 
hsh  church,  it  is  well  known,  were  bred  in  the  Roman 
school.  They  were  in  early  life  thoroughly  indoctrin- 
ated with  Roman  theology,  and  habits  of  superstitious 
Romish  feeling  were  Avrought  into  the  very  frame-work 
of  their  souls.  Romisli  phraseology  had  become  a  part 
of  their  mental  furniture ;  and  to  employ  the  idiom  of 
Rome  was  as  natural  as  to  speak  their  vernacular 
tongue.  It  were  unreasonable  to  expect  of  such  men, 
that,  in  casting  off  false  doctrine,  they  would  do  the 
work  in  its  entireness  at  once;  and  that  they  would 
not  need  time  to  rid  themselves  wholly  of  forms  of  ex- 
pression to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  from 
childhood.  The  foreigner,  when  he  reaches  our  shores, 
though  he  has  left  behind  him,  it  may  be,  some  portion 
of  his  religion,  and  of  the  principles  of  government 
which  have  been  taught  him  from  his  youth,  still  feels 
their  influence  upon  him  for  many  years,  or  rather, 
perhaps,  never  succeeds  in  wholly  ridding  himself  of 
them.  He  brings  with  him  the  brogue  which  he 
learned  from  his  mother,  and  many  of  the  forms  of 
speech  and  domestic  habits  peculiar  to  his  native  coun- 


METHOD  OF  INTERPRETING  THE  PRAYER-BOOK.  97 

try.  How  much  more  certainly  might  we  expect  that 
a  Romanist,  whose  rehgion  is  so  very  pecuhar,  in 
■whose  eyes  every  outward  ordinance  is  full  of  a  divine 
life,  who  worships  an  incarnate  Deity  in  the  bread  and 
wine  of  the  Lord's  supper,  and  who  has  learned  to  con- 
nect the  word  holy  with  the  place,  the  forms  and  the 
circumstances,  as  well  as  the  object  of  worship,  would 
retain  for  a  long  time  the  vestiges  of  Romish  doctrines, 
feelings  and  forms  of  speech. 

We  find  the  facts  of  history  to  be  in  perfect  harmony 
with  these  suggestions  of  reason.  Light  broke  in  upon 
the  minds  of  these  reformers  in  a  very  gradual  way ; 
and  when  their  conceptions  of  truth  had  reached  a 
certain  degree  of  conformity  to  evangelical  protestant- 
ism, they  were  embodied  in  a  book  of  common  prayer. 
As  these  views  became  gradually  moulded  to  a  nearer 
conformity  to  scriptural  truth,  this  book  was,  from  time 
to  time,  subjected  to  processes  of  amendment.  And 
when  queen  Elizabeth  said  the  reformation  should  go 
no  further,  and  the  prayer-book  was  improved  for  the 
last  time,  it  became  the  embodied  results  of  the  refor- 
mation ;  so  that,  by  surrounding  it  from  that  time  to 
the  present  with  associations  of  greater  and  still  greater 
sanctity,  whatever  errors  were  then  left  in  the  minds 
of  the  reformers,  have  been  preserved,  like  the  em- 
bahned  mummies  of  Egypt.  They  differ  from  the 
mummies,  however,  in  having  been  kept  in  a  living, 
active  and  reproductive  state. 

The  prayer-book,  then,  is  a  transcript  of  the  English 
reformation.  By  what  rule  or  standard  shall  we  inter- 
pret it?  Of  course,  by  the  events  out  of  which  it 
sprung ;  by  the  opinions  of  the  reformers  who  com- 
piled it;  by  the  reformation  which  it  embodies  and 
represents.  This  is  the  rule  Mr.  Butler  has  adopted  in 
his  "Common  Prayer  Interpreted,"  and  it  is  undoubt- 
9 


98       METHOD  OF  INTERPRETING  THE  PRAYER-BOOK. 


edly  the  best  yet  employed.  I  adopt  it,  therefore,  as 
the  rule  by  which  to  ascertain  what  the  prayer-book 
means;  but  not  to  settle  the  truth  of  its  meaning. 
This  must  be  tried  by  a  higher  and  safer  standard. 
We  have  had  enough  of  appealing  to  the  reformation, 
the  fathers,  and  the  church,  in  settling  christian  doc- 
trine. It  is  high  time  the  scriptures  were  - made  the 
supreme  and  sole  rule  of  faith,  practically  as  well  as 
theoretically.  As  the  prayer-book,  however,  embodies 
a  transcript  of  the  reformation,  it  is  right  to  appeal  to 
the  reformation  to  ascertain  lohat  doctrines  it  teaches. 

It  was  proved,  in  former  chapters,  that  this  reforma- 
tion was  begun  under  accidental  circumstances ;  that 
by  being  placed  under  the  control  of  the  English  mon- 
arch, and  made  dependent  on  his  caprices,  it  cut  itself 
off  from  the  certainty  of  a  steady  progress  and  a  trium- 
phant issue ;  and  that  it  was,  in  fact,  unsteady  in  its 
progress,  and  incomplete  in  its  results.  It  was  proved 
that  its  incompleteness  arose  from  two  causes,  —  a 
tolerance  of  Roman  doctrine,  and  an  intolerance  of 
purity  in  worship ;  the  one  operating  to  retain  Roman 
doctrine,  the  other  to  prevent  the  loss  of  papal  ceremo- 
nies. 

With  these  facts  before  us,  and  viewing  the  prayer- 
book  as  the  embodiment  of  the  reformation,  we  may 
presume  a  priori,  without  opening  its  pages,  that  it 
contains  traces,  more  or  less  distinct,  of  the  ancient 
corruptions,  out  of  which  the  reformation  aimed  to  lift 
the  English  church.  The  reformation  we  have  seen 
to  be  imperfect ;  the  prayer-book,  if  it  be  a  fair  repre- 
sentation of  it,  must  be  imperfect  also.  The  presump- 
tion is,  therefore,  that  the  prayer-book  is  a  compound 
of  truth  and  error ;  or  rather,  that  it  contains,  in  con- 
nection with  its  large  amount  of  truth,  a  hurtful  mix- 
ture of  error. 


METHOD  OF  INTERPRETING  THE  PRAYER-BOOK.  99 

But  this  is  only  presumption.  It  is  not  certainty. 
Finding  a  fountain  muddy,  it  may  be  inferred,  with 
tolerable  safety,  that  the  stream  is  muddy.  Notwith- 
standing most  persons  would  prefer  to  examine  the 
stream  also,  before  making  a  positive  decision,  because 
it  may  have  been  cleansed  by  passing  through  a  stra- 
tum of  earth.  Let  us  turn  our  attention,  then,  to  the 
doctrinal  contents  of  the  liturgy.  They  lie  before  us 
with  the  light  of  history  shining  upon  them  to  tell  us 
xohat  they  mean,  and  the  clearer  light  of  revelation  to 
decide  whether  their  meaning  is  in  harmony  with  eter- 
nal truth. 


100 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 

Doctrinal  corruptions  of  the  sacraments  have 
usually  been  antecedent  to  the  other  corruptions 
Avhich  characterize  the  tractarian  and  Roman  systems, 
and  in  no  small  degree  productive  of  them.  In  search- 
ing for  the  causes  of  Puseyism  in  the  prayer-book, 
therefore,  the  first  proper  business  is  to  examine  the 
communion  and  baptismal  offices. 

Against  our  communion  office  I  urge  one  cardinal 
objection,  which,  if  sustained,  must  exclude  it  from 
the  fellowship  of  pure  protestant  truths,  and  consign  it 
to  a  companionship  at  least  with  semi-Roman  teach- 
ing. It  inculcates,  as  I  believe,  a  presence  in  the  ele- 
ments— not  a  carnal^  but  a  spiritual  presence.  I  am 
aware  that  this  is  not  exactly  the  Roman  doctrine,  but 
it  is  precisely  the  tractarian,  and  differs  from  the 
Roman  only  in  being  a  little  more  misty  and  obscure. 

It  may  be  remarked  here,  that  the  English  com- 
munion service  is  not  exposed  fully  to  the  objection 
now  urged  to  our  own.  It  does  not  contain  the  obla- 
tion and  invocation.  These,  as  they  stand  in  our  ser- 
vice, are  as  follows : 

"  Wherefore,  O  Lord,  and  Heavenly  Father,  accord- 
ing to  the  institution  of  thy  dearly  beloved  Son  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  we,  thy  humble  servants,  do  cel- 
ebrate and  make  here  before  thy  divine  Majesty,  with 
these  thy  holy  gifts,  which  we  now  offer  vinto  thee,  the 
memorial  thy  Son  hath  commanded  us  to  make ;  hav- 
ing in  remembrance  his  blessed  passion  and  precious 
death,  his  mighty  resurrection  and  glorious  ascension ; 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


101 


rendering  unto  thee  most  hearty  thanks,  for  the  innu- 
merable benefits  procured  unto  us  by  the  same.  And 
we  most  humbly  beseech  thee,  O  merciful  Father,  to 
hear  us  ;  and,  of  thy  almighty  goodness,  vouchsafe  to 
bless  and  sanctify,  with  thy  Word  and  Holy  Spirit, 
these  thy  gifts  and  creatures  of  bread  and  wine ;  that 
we,  receiving  them  according  to  thy  Son  our  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ's  holy  institution,  in  remembrance  of  his 
death  and  passion,  may  be  partakers  of  his  most 
blessed  body  and  blood." 

These  parts  of  the  service  were  in  the  first  prayer- 
book  of  Edward  the  Sixth ;  but  at  the  revision  of  the 
book,  under  that  monarch,  they  were  struck  out,  on 
the  ground  that  they  favored  the  idea  of  a  sacrifice  in 
the  supper.  Happily,  they  have  never  been  restored 
to  the  English  service  book.  They  were  reengrafted 
upon  our  service  at  the  revision  of  the  liturgy  by  our 
General  Convention  in  the  year- 1789.  They  were 
introduced  at  the  special  request  and  solicitation  of 
bishop  Seabury,  a  man  who  received  his  episcopal 
ordination  in  Scotland,  and  who  had  embraced  the 
high  sacramentarian  views  held  by  the  bishops  in 
that  country.  How  the  usual  sagacity  of  bishop 
White  was  imposed  upon  so  far  as  to  overlook  the 
vicious  import  of  these  sentences,  and  to  permit  their 
introduction  without  remonstrance,  it  is  not  easy  to 
conjecture. 

The  oblatory  words  contain,  it  seems  to  me,  one 
very  essential  error.  It  consists  in  what  is  implied  in 
offering  the  bread  and  wine  to  God.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Butler,  in  his  "  Common  Prayer  Interpreted,"  quotes 
from  the  "  Comparison  between  the  communion  offices 
of  the  Church  of  England  and  the  Scottish  Episcopal 
Church,"  in  which  the  author,  after  citing  the  words 
"  which  we  now  offer  unto  thee^^^  says  of  them,  "  They 
9* 


102 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


imply  a  direct  offering  of  the  bread  and  wine  as  a  sac- 
rifice.''^ He  is  speaking,  to  be  sure,  of  the  Scotch  office ; 
but  as  the  words  were  taken  by  our  General  Conven- 
tion from  that  office,  it  is  no  more  than  fair  to  give 
them  the  same  interpretation.  Viewed  in  any  light, 
they  present  themselves  as  plainly  inconsistent  with 
the  thirty-first  article,  which  boldly  designates  other 
offerings,  except  that  of  "  Christ  once  made,"  as 
"  blasphemous  fables  and  dangerous  deceits."  And  to 
remind  the  reader  of  their  utter  incompatibility  with 
anything  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  seems  almost 
superfluous. 

Not  only  is  there  the  sacrificial  idea  conveyed  in 
offering  the  "holy  gifts"  to  God,  but  in  the  invocation, 
there  is  some  kind  of  a  change  in  the  elements  implied 
in  the  invoking  upon  them  of  the  power  of  the  "  Word 
and  Holy  Spirit."  This  invocation  is  also  thoroughly 
unscriptural.  The  records  of  God's  word  will  be 
searched  in  vain  for  the  slightest  trace  of  any  authority 
for  this  act. 

Let  us  look  for  a  few  moments  at  the  account  of  the 
institution  of  the  supper  contained  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Matthew  says,  "And  as  they  were  eating, 
Jesus  took  bread  and  blessed  it,  and  brake  it,  and  gave 
it  to  his  disciples,  and  said,  Take,  eat ;  this  is  my  body. 
And  he  took  the  cup  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it  to 
them,  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it ;  for  this  is  my  blood 
of  the  new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the 
remission  of  sins."*  Mark's  account  is  nearly  identi- 
cal with  Matthew's.  Luke  says,  "  And  he  took,  bread, 
and  gave  thanks,  and  brake  it,  and  gave  it  unto  them, 
saying,  This  is  my  body,  which  is  given  for  you ;  this 
do  in  remembrance  of  me.    Likewise  also  the  cup, 


*  Matthew  xxvi. 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


103 


after  supper,  saying,  This  cup  is  the  new  testament  in 
my  blood,  which  is  shed  for  you."*  St.  Paul  records 
the  account  of  the  institution  thus :  "  For  I  have 
received  of  the  Lord  that  which  also  I  delivered  unto 
you.  That  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  same  night  that 
he  was  betrayed,  took  bread,  and  when  he  had  given 
thanks,  he  brake  it,  saying.  Take,  eat;  this  is  my 
body,  which  is  broken  for  you  ;  this  do  in  remembrance 
of  me.  After  the  same  manner,  also,  he  took  the  cup, 
when  he  had  supped,  saying,  This  cup  is  the  new  tes- 
tament in  my  blood ;  this  do,  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it,  in 
remembrance  of  me."f 

These  three  accounts,  it  will  be  seen,  are  substan- 
tially the  same.  Matthew  uses  the  expression,  "  He 
took  bread  and  blessed  i^."  It  is  not  in  the  original ; 
and  learned  men  affirm  that  the  word  God  might  be 
more  properly  supplied,  so  that  the  sentence  should 
read,  "  He  took  bread  and  blessed  Gody  This  ren- 
dering is  certainly  more  in  harmony  with  the  state- 
ments of  Luke  and  Paul.  Luke's  words  are,  "  He 
took  bread,  and  gave  thanks" — Paul's,  "He  took 
bread,  and  when  he  had  given  thanks,  he  brake  it." 

Now  compare  this  scriptural  account  of  the  supper 
with  the  words  of  our  office.  The  officiating  minister 
is  required  by  our  service  to  invoke  God's  Word  and 
Holy  Spirit  to  bless  and  sanctify  the  bread  and  wine ; 
and  the  object  of  the  blessing  and  sanctifying  of  them 
is  declared  to  be  '■'■that  we,  receiving  them,"  may  be 
partakers  of  Christ's  "most  blessed  body  and  blood." 
Our  Saviour  does  not  even  ask  God's  blessing  upon 
the  bread  and  wine,  but  merely  blesses  God  for  them. 
He  gives  no  hint  of  the  elements  being  a  channel  of 
divine  grace  to  us. 


*  Luke  xxii.  19,  20.    f  1  Cor.  xi.  23  —  25. 


104 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


The  minister  is  required  by  the  service  to  offer  the 
bread  and  wine  to  God,  certainly  in  the  form,  if  not 
with  the  intent,  of  a  sacrifice.  Our  Saviour  did  noth- 
ing but  bless  God,  and  offer  the  elements  to  his  disci- 
ples. The  service  calls  the  elements  "  holy  gifts,"  and 
"  Iwly  mysteries.''^  The  Scriptures  are  silent  as  the 
sepulchre  as  to  any  holiness  connected  with  the  ele- 
ments ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  are  intentionally  so, 
that  there  might  not  be  any  possible  excuse  for  the 
error  of  a  presence  in  the  bread  and  wine.  Could 
there  well  be  a  more  striking  contrast  and  dissimi- 
larity? On  the  scriptural  side,  there  is  the  blessing 
God,  the  giving  the  bread  and  wine  to  the  disciples, 
the  declaring  them  symbols  in  strongly  figurative  lan- 
guage, and  the  direction  that  the  repetition  of  the  ser- 
Aace  shall  be,  through  all  time,  a  memorial  act.  This 
is  all ;  no  consecrating  the  elements  by  invoking  the 
Holy  Ghost  upon  them  ;*  no  intimation  even  that,  in 

*  But  one  passage  of  Scripture  occurs  to  me,  which,  by  any  possi- 
bility, can  be  made  even  to  appear  to  favor  this  idea.  "  The  cup  of 
blessing,  ivhich  n-e  bless,"  &c.,  (1  Cor.  x.  16.)  It  is  usually  inferred 
from  these  words,  that  the  apostles,  in  their  official  capacity  as  minis- 
ters of  the  New  Testament,  were  in  the  habit  of  blessing  or  conse- 
crating the  wine.  But  as  all  the  scriptural  accounts  of  the  institution 
of  the  supper  go  to  show  that  our  Saviour  did  no  such  thing,  it  is  not 
to  be  presumed,  without  the  clearest  evidence,  that  the  apostles  varied 
essentially  from  his  example.  We  have  seen  that  Christ  did  not  bless 
either  the  bread  or  the  wine,  but  merely  rendered  thanks,  and  blessed 
God.  Since  this  passage  is  highly  figurative,  would  it  not  be  safer  to 
give  it  an  interpretation  which  would  bring  it  into  harmony  with  all 
the  other  Scriptures  which  relate  to  the  same  subject  ?  The  cup  of 
blessing,  upon  the  receiving  of  which  we  render  thanks  and  bless 
God  ;  would  not  such  a  rendering  be  admissible  ?  It  would  certainly 
reheve  the  passage  from  the  contrariety  to  other  Scriptures,  which  the 
usual  interpretation  gives  ;  and  does  not  appear  to  me  at  all  to  tran- 
scend the  latitude  which  its  highly  figurative  character  allows. 

After  publishing  this  in  the  Christian  Alliance;  I  received  the  fol- 
lowing communication,  with  which  I  am  happy  to  strengthen  the 
position  taken  : 

"  Dear  Sir,  —  In  your  article  on  the  communion  service,  in  argu- 
ing against  a  change  in  the  elements,  in  consequence  of  the  consecra- 
tion, you  remark,  '  Our  Saviour  does  not  even  ask  God's  blessing  oa 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


105 


consequence  of  any  act  of  consecration,  we,  receiving 
them,  may  be  able  to  receive  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ;  no  employing  them  theatrically  to  make  a 

Uio  bread  and  wine,  but  merely  blesses  God  for  them  ;'  you  also  say, 
iluTc  is  'no  consecrating  the  elements  by  invoking  the  Holy  Ghost 
upon  them.'  In  a  note  you  consider  the  consistency  of  1  Cor.  x.  16, 
'  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless  '  with  this  view,  and  ask  whether 
it  would  not  be  admissible  to  render  the  passage  thus,  'The  cup  of 
blessmg  on  the  receiving  of  which  we  render  thanks  and  bless  God.' 

■I  think  you  have  presented  the  true  view  of  the  passage;  and 
1  ilo  not  doubt  that  it  will  gratify  you  to  be  assured  that  others  who 
li  111  no  argumentative  end  to  gain  have  taken  substantially  the  same 
\  II 'w  before  you.  For  it  will  thus  be  rendered  evident  that  you  have 
M  il  resorted  to  an  evasion  to  escape  a  difficulty,  but  have  followed 
\'.  hat  the  most  eminent  interpreters  regard  as  the  true  sense  of  the 
p:is,sage. 

'To  evince  that  this  is  so,  I  make  the  following  quotation  from 
Uloomfield,  an  eminent  critic  and  commentator,  and  now  Lord  Bishop 
111  London,  and,  of  course,  a  thorough  Episcopalian. 

"' The  cup  of  blessing.'  This  is  best  explained  as  put  for  'the 
cup  for,  or  over  which,  we  give  thanks  to  God,'  and  it  is  supposed  to 
have  been  a  popular  phrase  to  denote  the  encharist,  and  adopted  from 
what  was  called  the  cup  of  blessing  at  the  paschal  feast.  '  Which  we 
bless,'  is  exegetical  of  '  the  cup  of  blessing,'  and,  according  to  the 
Ttwst  eminent  interpreters  ancient  and  modern,  is  put  for,  '  on  account  of 
which  we  give  thanks  to  God.'    So  far  Bloomfield. 

"  Here  then,  according  to  the  most  eminent  interpreters,  ancient 
and  modern,  there  is  giving  thanks  to  God,  on  account  of  the  cup,  but 
no  blessing  of  the  cup  —  no  consecration  of  the  wine. 

"It  may  also  interest  you  and  your  readers  to  know  Bloomfield's 
opinion  of  Matt.  xxvi.  26 — -translated  in  our  version,  'He  took  bread 
and  blessed  it,  and  brake  it.'  He  declares  that  the  common  text  is 
not  correct,  and  ought  to  be  so  altered  as  to  agree  with  Luke  xxii.  19, 
and  1  Cor.  xi.  24  ;  i.  e.,  instead  of  tvXoY>iaag  it  should  read  iv^raQimti- 
aag.  In  this  way  no  translation  is  possible  except  '  he  took  the  bread 
and  having  given  thanks,  he  brake  it.'  He  has  accordingly  so 
changed  the  text,  and  says  in  his  note,  'It  is  not  easy  to  imagine 
stronger  authority  of  manuscripts,  versions,  fathers,  and  early  edi- 
tions, than  that  which  exists  for  this  reading,  instead  of  the  common 
one.' 

"'From  the  term  ev/aQiaTtjaag,  the  rite  afterwards  took  its  name, 
i.  e.  eucharist,  especially  as  the  service  was  a  sacrifice  of  praise  and 
thanksgiving.'  He  then  refers  to  the  universal  custom  of  the  Jews 
of  givnng  thanks  to  God,  before  the  reception  of  any  food,  as  illustrat- 
ing the  giving  of  thanks  in  this  case. 

"  Nor  is  this  all.  Philologists  of  the  greatest  authority  assign  to 
fnAoyfjooc,  which  occurs  in  Mark  xiv.  22,  the  same  sense  as  to  tv/oQin- 
Ttjnag,  (i.  e.,  gave  thanks,)  in  the  other  passages,  as  may  be  seen  by 
any  one  who  will  consult  Schleusner's  and  Wahl's  Lexicons,  and 
Eoseimiuller's  and  Kuinoel's  Commentaries.    Indeed,  the  same  word 


106 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


memorial  service  before  God  ;  no  offering  them  to  God 
in  the  manner  of  a  sacrifice ;  and  no  pronouncing  them 
"  Ao/y,"  or  in  any  sense  mr/sterioii.s.  In  short,  so  far 
as  this  part  of  the  service  is  concerned,  it  would  not  be 
easy  to  make  it  more  unlike  the  scriptural  account  of 
the  supper. 

Whatever  this  service  may  mean,  therefore,  it 
teaches  something  which  the  Scriptures  do  not  teach. 
That  something  I  have  already  affirmed  to  be  a  spir- 
itual presence  in  the  elements.  As  this,  however,  will 
be  denied,  it  seems  proper  to  give  more  particular 
attention  to  it.  But  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  I  have 
proved  the  service  to  be  thoroughly  tmscripiural,  so 
that  whatever  it  teaches,  it  does  not  teach  scriptural 
truth.  The  very  least  that  can  be  said  against  it  is, 
that  where  heartily  received,  it  prevents  the  mind 
from  embracing  the  doctrine  of  -the  ordinance  in  its 

tvXoyvoag,  is  used  in  Mark  vi.  41,  where  Christ  gave  thanks  before 
breaking  and  distributing  the  loaves  and  fishes.  Here  surely  was  no 
sacramental  consecration,  and  change  of  bread  and  fish.  So  in  Mark 
viii.  7,  the  same  word  is  used  to  denote  giving  thanks  before  distrib- 
uting a  few  small  fishes.  Here  is  simply  thanksgiving  before  a  com- 
mon meal,  and  yet  precisely  the  same  word  and  form  are  used  as 
when  describing  the  eucharist. 

"  There  is,  then,  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Kosenmuller,  Bloomfield 
and  others  are  correct,  when  they  say  that  Christ,  in  establishing  the 
eucharist,  simply  followed,  on  a  more  solemn  occasion,  the  universal 
Jewish  practice  of  neither  eating  nor  drinking  anything  at  any  meal, 
till  they  had  first  give?i  thanks  to  God. 

"  I  could  with  ease  multiply  authorities  to  sustain  Bloomfield's 
views  of  1  Cor.  x.  16,  but  I  forbear. 

"  I  am  thus  particular  in  sustaining  your  views,  because  I  regard 
this  as  a  point  of  great  moment.  It  proves  that  Christ  had  no  more 
design  to  act  on  or  to  change  the  bread  and  the  wine  in  the  eucha- 
rist, than  we  have  to  act  on  or  change  our  food  in  a  common  meal, 
when  for  it  we  give  thanks  to  God.  There  is  no  more  mystery  in  one 
case  than  in  the  other. 

The  design  of  Christ  was  simply  to  give  thanks  to  God,  on  a  most 
solemn  and  affecting  occasion,  and  nothing  more  or  less.  Thus  is  all 
transabstantiation,  consubstantiation,  and  spiritual  or  mystical  pres- 
ence in  the  elements,  cut  up  by  the  roots,  and  an  intelligent,  grateful 
commemoration  of  the  death  of  Christ  alone  remains." 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


107 


simplicity ;  suggests  to  it  the  idea  of  a  sacrifice ;  fills 
it  with  confused  ideas  of  some  mysterious  supernatural 
energy  acting  through  the  elements  ;  puts  it  on  a  blind 
chase  after  something  not  distinctly  defined,  and  thus 
prepares  it  to  embrace  just  such  view  as  the  current 
superstition  of  the  hour,  or  especially  as  the  general 
teaching  of  Episcopalian  divines,  may  be  thought  to 
sanction. 

And  now  to  the  proof  that  the  service  does  teach  a 
spiritual  presence  in  the  elements.  I  think  it  more  than 
probable^  from  the  plain  import  of  the  words  them- 
selves, that  they  were  intended  to  teach  such  a  doc- 
trine. To  my  mind  they  very  clearly  convey  such  an 
idea ;  for  they  not  only  invoke  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  upon  the  elements,  but  they  also  assign  a 
descent  of  the  Spirit  upon  them,  as  the  means  of  pre- 
paring them  for  conveying  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  to  the  communicant.  Observe  the  force  of 
the  words,  "  Vouchsafe  to  bless  and  sanctify  with  thy 
Word  and  Holy  Spirit,  these  thy  gifts,  and  creatures 
of  bread  and  wine," — for  what  purpose? — '■'■that  we, 
receiving  them,"  <fec.,  "may  be  partakers  of  his  most 
blessed  body  and  blood."  The  necessary  inference  is, 
that  the  Holy  Ghost,  commg  down  upon  the  elements 
at  the  time  of  consecration,  makes  them  the  chamiels 
of  conveying,  supernaturally,  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ ;  and  that,  without  this  mingling  of  the  Spirit 
with  them,  or  mysterious  change  wrought  in  them  by 
the  Spirit,  they  would  not  answer  their  intended  end 
in  the  sacrament.  I  Imow  not  what  other  meaning 
can  fairly  be  drawn  out  of  the  words. 

We  shall  be  helped  in  settling  the  truth  of  this  inter- 
pretation, by  refering  to  the  recorded  opinions  of  the 
reformers,  and  other  leading  English  divmes.  If  they 
held  the  notion  of  a  spiritual  presence  in  the  elements. 


108 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


we  may  conclude  that  the  obvious  sense  which  we 
have  seen  lying  upon  the  face  of  those  words  is  past 
all  doubt  the  true  one. 

Our  evangelical  writers  have  laid  much  stress  on 
the  fact  that  the  English  reformers  speak  strongly 
against  the  Roman  doctrine  of  a  carnal  or  corporal 
presence.  Within  the  last  two  or  three  years,  I  have 
been  often  struck  with  the  circumstance  that,  in  con- 
tending against  the  Roman  doctrine,  they  almost  inva- 
riably use  either  the  word  "carnal"  or  "corporal."* 
I  might  fill  an  octavo  volume  with  sentences  of  this 
kind ;  and  I  invite  the  reader's  attention  particularly 
to  this  fact,  and  also  to  another  fact  bearing  directly 
on  the  point  in  hand,  namely,  that  they  seldom  start 
an  objection  to  a  spiritual  presence  in  the  elements. 
A  spiritual  presence  seems  Avith  them  to  have  been  the 
scriptural  antithesis  to  the  carnal  presence  of  the 
Romanists.  All  admit  that  it  is  Romish  to  hold  the 
corporal  presence  of  Christ  in  the  elements.  It  would 
be  difficult,  I  apprehend,  to  show  that  it  is  less  essen- 
tially Romish,  or  rather,  I  should  say,  less  essentially 
heretical,  to  hold  that  the  spiritual  nature  of  Christ  is 
joined  with  the  elements.  "Any  view,"  says  a  distin- 
guished writer,  "  is  to  be  rejected,  which  involves  the 
idea  of  a  descent  into  the  elements;"  and  I  may  add 
that  any  view  is  especially  to  be  avoided,  which 
involves  the  idea  that  this  descent  is  effected  by 
the  consecrating  prayer  of  the  minister ;  that  when 

*  Cardwell,  in  his  Hist,  of  Conferences,  &c.,  p,  383,  states  that 
when  the  rubric,  explaining  the  reason  for  kneeling  to  receive  the 
Lord's  supper,  was  restored  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  instead  of  the 
words,  "  Any  real  and  essential  presence  there  being  of  Christ's  natural 
flesh  and  blood,"  it  was  made  to  read,  "  Any  corporal  presence,"  &c. ; 
thus  showing  that  while  there  was  a  readiness  to  commit  the  church 
against  any  corporal  presence,  there  was  no  disposition  to  condemn 
the  notion  of  a  "  real  and  essential  presence,"  even  "  of  Christ's  natural 
flesh  and  blood." 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


109 


the  prayer  is  said  over  the  bread  and  wine,  the 
Spirit,"  in  the  language  of  another,  "descends  and 
lights  upon  them."  Here  is  where  a  large  portion  of 
the  English  divines  and  their  imitators  stumble.  This 
is  essentia!  error.  It  puts  the  Spirit,  in  a  sense,  at  the 
disposal  of  the  priest,  and  clothes  the  divine  nature  of 
the  Son  of  God,  not  indeed  as  the  Romanist  does,  in  a 
fleshly,  but,  what  is  equally  erroneous,  in  a  vegeta- 
ble garment.  So  that  if  there  is  not  present  "God 
manifest  in  the  Jlesh,^'  there  is  God  clothed  in  another 
form  of  matter,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing.  In 
both  cases  alike  there  is  present  the  divine  Saviour 
clad  in  an  earthly  garment,  and  in  the  one  case,  as  in 
the  other,  entitled  to  divine  worship.  With  what  pro- 
priety those  who  take  this  view  can  condemn  the  Ro- 
manist for  adoring  the  host,  I  cannot  see. 

It  avails  nothing  to  object  that  this  view  does  not 
involve  the  opus  operatum  idea,  since  the  receiving  of 
Christ  is  altogether  conditional,  depending  on  the  faith 
of  the  believer  ;  for  then  it  amounts  simply  to  this, — 
that  the  elements  being  charged  with  a  divine  essence, 
as  the  jar  of  the  experimenter  is  charged  with  elec- 
tricity, convey,  by  themselves,  spiritual  influences,  and 
impart  spiritual  graces,  to  such  as  have  spiritual  affini- 
ties for  the  divine  gift  conveyed.  It  is  a  physical  idea 
throughout,  representing  believers  and  unbelievers  as 
receiving  or  not  receiving  the  divine  Spirit,  conveyed 
along  with  the  elements,  just  as  conducting  and  non- 
conducting bodies  receive  or  decline  the  electric  fluid 
when  brought  in  contact  with  a  body  containing  it. 

But  it  is  time  to  ascertain  whether  the  English  re- 
formers and  others  did  hold  this  view  of  a  spiritual 
presence  in  the  elements,  and  also  a  spiritual  change 
in  the  elements. 

10 


110 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


Bishop  Ridley,  whose  mind  contributed  not  a  little 
to  give  a  cast  to  this  reformation,  says : 

"Always  my  protestation  reserved,  I  answer  thus: 
that  in  the  sacrament  is  a  certain  change,  in  that  that 
bread  which  was  before  common  bread,  is  now  made 
a  lively  presentation  of  Christ's  body,  and  not  only  a 
figure,  but  elfectuously  representeth  his  body ;  that 
even  as  the  mortal  body  was  nourished  by  that  visible 
bread,  so  is  the  internal  soul  fed  with  the  heavenly 
food  of  Christ's  body,  which  the  eyes  of  faith  see,  as 
the  bodily  eyes  see  only  bread.  Such  a  sacramental 
mutation  I  grant  to  be  in  the  bread  and  wine,  xoh'tch 
truly  is  no  small  change,  but  such  a  change  as  no  mor- 
tal man  can  make,  but  only  that  omnipotence  of  Christ's 
word."  * 

Bishop  Overall.  ^'^That  we,  receiving  these,  thy 
creatures  of  bread  and  ivine,  &c.,  may  be  partakers  of 
his  blessed  body  atid  blood.  Together  with  the  hal- 
loived  elements  of  bread  and  toitie,  we  may  receive  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  which  are  truly  exhibited  in 
this  sacrament,  the  one  as  well  as  the  other."  "It  is 
confessed  by  all  divines,  [that  is,  the  English  divines,] 
that  iipon  the  words  of  the  consecration,  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  are  really  and  substantially  present,  and 
so  exhibited  and  given  to  all  who  receive  them ;  and  all 
this  is  not  after  a  physical  and  sensual,  but  after  a 
heavenly  and  incomprehensible  manner.  These  holy 
mysteries  were  the  spiritual  food  of  the  most  precious 
body  and  blood,"  &c.  "Before  consecration,  we  call 
them  God's  creatures  of  bread  and  wine ;  now  we  do 
so  no  more  after  consecration ;  wherein  we  have  the 
advantage  of  the  church  of  Rome,  who  call  them  still 
creatures  in  their  very  mass,  after  consecration."! 


*  "Works,  p.  274. 


t  Notes  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


Ill 


Bishop  Bramhall.  "Having  viewed  all  your  strength 
with  a  single  eye,  I  find  not  one  of  your  arguments  that 
comes  home  to  transubstantiation,  but  only  to  a  true 
and  real  presence;  which  no  genuine  son  of  the  church 
of  England  did  ever  deny,  no,  nor  your  adversary  him- 
self Christ  said,  'This  is  my  body;'  what  he  said  we 
do  most  steadfastly  believe.  He  said  not  after  this  or 
that  manner,  neque  con,  nequc  snh,  nequa  trans^* 

Bishop  Cosins.  "As  far  as  we  openly  profess,  with 
St.  Bernard,  that  the  presence  of  the  body  of  Christ  in 
the  sacrament,  [by  the  expression  '  in  the  sacrament,' 
these  writers  almost  invariably  mean,  in  the  elements,] 
is  spiritual,  and,  therefore,  true  and  real,  and  with  the 
same  Bernard,  and  all  the  ancients,  we  deny  that  the 
body  of  Christ  is  carnally  either  present  or  given."! 

Bishop  Sparrow.  "The  words  are  pronounced 
by  the  lips  of  the  priest,  but  the  elements  are  conse- 
crated by  the  power  and  grace  of  Christ."  % 

Hooker.  "  This  bread  hath  in  it  more  than  our  eyes 
behold;  this  cup,  hallowed  with  solemn  benediction, 
availeth  to  the  endless  life  and  welfare  of  soul  and 
body,"  <fcc.  *  *  *  *  "  What  these  elements  are 
in  themselves,  it  skilleth  not."§  Again,  "5y  blessing 
visible  elements,  it  [the  ministry]  maketh  them  invisi- 
ble graces." 

Bishop  Taylor.  "  The  Doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  generally  of  the  protestants,  in  this  arti- 
cle, is,  that  after  the  minister  of  the  holy  mysteries  hath 
rightly  prayed,  and  blessed  or  consecrated  the  bread 
and  wine,  the  symbols  become  changed  into  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ,  after  a  sacramental,  that  is,  in  a 
spiritual,  real  manner."  ||    Again,  "  When  the  holy 

*  Works,  p.  15.  t  History  of  Transubstantiation,  p.  53. 

X  Rationale  upon  the  Common  Prayer. 

^  Ecc.  Pol.  Book,  vol.  vi.,  p.  67.    ||  Real  Presence,  vol.  ix.,  p.  424. 


112 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


man  stands  at  the  table  of  blessing,  and  ministers  the 
rite  of  consecration,  then  do  as  the  angels  do,  who  be- 
hold, and  love,  and  wonder,  that  the  Son  of  God  should 
become  food  to  the  souls  of  his  servants  ;  that  he  who 
cannot  suffer  any  change  or  lessening  should  he  broken 
into  pieces,  and  enter  into  the  body  to  support  and 
nourish  the  spirit." *  Again,  "Have  mercy  upon  us, 
O  heavenly  Father,  according  to  thy  glorious  mercies 
and  promises,  send  thy  Holy  Ghost  upon  our  hearts, 
and  let  him  also  descend  upon  these  gifts,  that  by  his 
good,  his  holy,  his  glorious  presence,  he  may  sanctify 
and  enlighten  our  hearts,  and  he  may  bless  and  sanc- 
tify these  gifts. 

"That  this  bread  may  become  the  holy  body  of 
Christ.  Amen. 

"And  this  chalice  may  become  the  life-giving  blood 
of  Christ.  Amen."t 

Bishop  Ken.  "  I  believe,  O  crucitied  Lord,  that  the 
bread  which  we  break,  in  the  celebration  of  the  holy 
mysteries,  is  the  communication  of  thy  body,  and 
the  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is  the  communica- 
tion of  thy  blood,  and  that  thou  dost  as  effectually  and 
really  convey  thy  body  and  blood  to  our  souls,  by  the 
bread  and  wine,  as  thou  didst  thy  Holy  Spirit  by  thy 
breath  to  thy  disciples,  for  which  all  love,  all  glory  be 
to  \heo."% 

Wheatley.  "In  these  words  of  the  consecration 
prayer,  '  Hear  us,  O  merciful  Father,'  &c.,  the  sense 
of  the  former  is  still  implied,  and  consequently,  by 
these,  the  elements  are  now  consecrated,  and  so  become 
the  body  and  blood  of  our  Saviour." 

Perhaps  these  extracts  are  extended  too  far  already. 

*  Holy  Living,  vol.  iv.,  p.  269. 

t  Office  for  the  Holy  Communion,  vol.  xv.,  p.  299. 

%  Exposition  of  the  Church  Catechism. 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


113 


I  might  extend  them  much  further.  If  they  have  any 
definite  meaning,  it  is  one  in  harmony  with  the  con- 
struction I  have  put  upon  the  communion  office.  They 
teach — and  affirm  the  teaching  to  be  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish church  —  that  in  the  act  of  consecration  by  the 
priest,  there  occurs  what  Ridley  calls  "  a  certain 
change"  and  mutation  f  that  this  change  is  "spir- 
itual," and  "  iticomprehensible"  in  opposition  to  the 
one  contended  for  by  the  Romanists,  which  is  physi- 
cal and  "  carnal ;"  that  this  cliange  is  "  into  the  body 
(I  lid  blood  of  Christ"  and  is  '•'•true"  and  '■'■real;"  that, 
\\\  consequence  of  the  elements  having  "become"  thus 
really  changed,  they  really  '•'•convey"  to  the  believer  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ.  This  is  exactly  the  teaching 
which  lies  upon  the  face  of  our  communion  office,  and 
since  it  turns  out  to  be  the  current  teaching  of  such 
leading  divines  as  have  at  different  periods  chiefly 
controlled  the  English  church,  the  writer  thinks  it 
would  be  subversive  of  the  rules  of  fair  interpreta- 
tion, to  give  it  any  other  than  its  most  obvious  mean- 
ing.* 

I  have  extended  this  chapter  to  a  considerable  length, 
because  it  is  one  of  the  vital  points  in  the  discussion. 
The  dramatic  character  of  the  communion  service, 
strengthens  very  essentially,  in  my  mind,  the  force  of 
the  above  objections;  but  this  belongs  to  the  philo- 
sophical branch  of  my  subject,  and  I  forego  the  imme- 
diate advantage  to  be  derived  from  it  here,  for  the 
purpose  of  preserving  the  order  of  the  subjects.  The 

*  Beside  the  doctrinal  objection  to  this  office  here  urged,  it  is  often 
made  a  subject  of  complaint  by  clergymen,  in  feeble  health,  on  ac- 
count of  its  great  length,  and  the  peculiar  construction  of  its  sen- 
tences. These,  it  is  said,  make  its  recitation  more  exhausting  to  the 
lungs  than  any  other  part  of  a  clergyman's  duty.  How  strange,  that 
ministers  will  chafe  and  gall  their  necks  with  a  yoke  which  God 
never  required  them  to  wear ! 

10* 


114 


THE  COMMUNION  OFFICE. 


reader  may  be  reminded  here,  that  as  the  argument  is 
cumulative  throughout,  he  can  only  judge  fairly  of  the 
force  of  its  particular  branches,  when  he  shall  have 
seen  the  whole,  and  surveyed  their  united  as  well  as 
separate  bearings. 


115 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 

There  are  few  evangelical  men  in  our  church  whc 
•will  not  confess,  that,  if  their  own  personal  wishes  could 
be  attained,  they  would  have  a  few  words  altered  in  the 
baptismal  office.  This  is,  indeed,  regarded  commonly 
as  the  most  exceptionable  part  of  the  prayer-book. 
Still  the  attempt  has  very  generally  been  made  to  bend 
its  strong  language  into  conformity  with  the  truth ;  to 
press  it  into  unison  with  the  enmaciations  of  an  evan- 
gelical faith.  With  what  success  will  appear,  I  hope, 
before  I  reach  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

As  a  help  for  ascertaining  the  meaning  of  this  office, 
I  may  draw  the  reader's  attention  once  more  to  the 
opinions  of  the  reformers. 

The  first  question  needing  to  be  settled  is  this :  Is 
there  any  evidence  for  believing  that  the  leading  re- 
formers thought  the  baptismal  water  was  so  changed 
or  sanctified  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  to  be  capable  of 
effecting  somethiiag  in  the  soul  which  it  could  not  effect 
in  its  natural  state  ?  Having  proved  the  same  thing  in 
regard  to  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  supper,  I  need  not 
lumber  these  pages  with  a  large  amount  of  testimony. 
Let  the  language  of  Jewel  be  taken  as  a  specimen 
under  this  head : 

"  St.  Chrysostom  saith:  '  Plain  or  bare  water  work- 
eth  not  in  us ;  but  when  it  hath  received  the  grace  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  it  washeth  away  our  sins.'  So  saith 
St.  Ambrose,  also  :  '  The  Holy  Ghost  cometh  down  and 
hallo weth  the  water ;'  and  '  there  is  the  presence  of  the 
Trinity.'    So  saith  St.  Cyril:  'As  water  thoroughly 


116 


THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 


heated  with  fire  burneth  as  well  as  the  fire,  so  the 
waters  that  wash  the  body  of  him  that  is  baptized 
are  changed  into  divine  power  by  the  working  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.'  So  saith  St.  Leo,  some  time  bishop  of 
Rome :  '  Christ  hath  given  like  preeminence  to  the 
water  of  baptism  as  he  gave  to  his  mother  for  that 
power  of  the  Highest,  and  that  overshadowing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  brought  to  pass  that  Mary  should 
bring  forth  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  hath  also 
brought  to  pass  that  the  water  should  bear  anew,  or 
regenerate  him  that  helieveth?  Such  opinion  had  the 
ancient  learned  fathers,  and  such  reverent  words  they 
used  when  they  entreated  of  the  sacraments.  For  it 
is  not  man,  but  God,  which  worketh  by  them."  —  Of 
Sacraments,  (Tracts  of  the  Anglican  Fathers,)  p.  72. 

I  invite  particular  attention  to  the  words  quoted 
above  from  Cyril,  —  "As  water  thoroughly  heated 
with  fire  burneth  as  well  as  the  fire,  so  the  waters  that 
wash  the  body  of  him  that  is  baptized  are  changed 
into  divine  power  by  the  working  of  the  Holy  Ghost," 
—  that  is,  so  as  to  do  the  same  thing  in  the  soul  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  does,  just  as  water  heated  with  fire 
does  the  same  as  fire  does. 

The  next  proper  question  is,  Did  the  reformers  be- 
lieve that  in,  by,  or  through  baptism,  the  soul  is 
cleansed,  purged,  regenerated,  new-created  1  Take  the 
following  from  Cranmer  as  a  sample : 

"And  the  second  birth  is  by  the  water  of  baptism, 
which  Paul  called  the  bath  of  regeneration,  because 
our  siiis  be  forgiven  us  in  baptism,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  poured  into  us  as  into  God's  beloved  children,  so  thai, 
by  the  potver  and  working  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  be 
born  again,  spiritually,  and  made  new  creatures.  And 
so,  by  baptism,  we  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
are  saved  forever,  if  we  continue,  to  our  lives'  end,  in 


THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 


iir 


the  faith  of  Christ."  —  Of  Baptism,  (Tracts  of  the  An- 
glican Fathers,)  p.  1. 

And  the  following  from  Dr.  Lancelot  Ridley: 
"Here  (Ephesians  v.  26)  is  showed  how  Christ 
hath  purged  his  church  truly  in  the  fountain  of  water, 
by  his  word,  although  God,  of  his  mere  mercy  and 
goodness,  without  all  man's  deserts  or  merits,  only  for 
Christ's  sake,  hath  washed  and  purged  man  from  sin ; 
yet  he  tiseth  a  mean,  by  the  which  lie  cleanseth  man 
from  sin,  which  is  baptism,  in  water,  by  the  toord  of 
God  ;  and  so,  in  baptism,  are  our  sins  taken  away,  and 
we  from  sin  purged,  cleansed,  and  regenerated  in  a 
nerv  man,  to  live  an  holy  life,  according  to  the  Spirit 
and  will  of  God." — Commentary  on  the  Ephesians,  in 
Richmond's  Fathers  of  the  English  Church,  ii. 

Cranmer's  words  are,  the  reader  will  observe,  "Our 
sins  are  forgiven  us  in  baptism,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
poured  into  ns and  that  "  we  be  born  again,  spirit- 
ually, and  made  new  creatures."  Ridley's  are,  that 
baptism  is  a  "  mean  by  the  which  God  cleanseth  man 
from  sinf  and  that  we  are  in  baptism,  '•'•purged, 
cleansed,  regenerated^  With  these  strong  words  in 
mind,  from  men  who  contributed  not  a  little  to  form 
that  mass  of  public  opinion  amid  which  the  prayer- 
book  had  its  birth,  and  one  of  whom  was  in  fact  the 
presiding  spirit  in  its  formation,  let  us  turn  to  the  bap- 
tismal office. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  the  mind  in  this  office 
is  the  strong  phraseology  peculiar  to  the  period  in 
which  it  had  its  origin.  It  speaks  the  language  of 
Cranmer,  and  Ridley,  and  Jewel ;  does  it  mean  what 
they  so  evidently  meant  when  they  lased  similar  lan- 
guage? The  presumption  certainly  is,  that  it  does. 
But  let  us  take  its  words  in  our  hands,  as  it  were,  and 
handle  them,  and  see  if  we  can  draw  any  other  mean- 


118 


THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 


ing  from  them  than  that  baptism  effects  a  spiritual 
change  in  the  soul. 

On  the  very  threshold  of  the  office,  we  meet  these 
words  :  "  And  by  the  baptism  of  thy  well  beloved  Son, 
Jesus  Christ,  in  the  river  Jordan,  didst  sanctify  water 
to  tlie  mystical  washing  away  of  sin;''  and  in  a  subse- 
quent part  of  the  service,  ^'sanctify  this  water  to  the 
mystical  washing  aivay  of  sin;"  words  which  cannot 
fairly  be  construed  to  mean  anything  else  than  the  gen- 
eral idea  conveyed  in  the  strong  passages  which  Jewel 
quotes  with  approbation  from  the  fathers,  and  which 
evidently  imply  that  the  water  is,  in  some  mysterious, 
supernatural  way,  endowed  by  the  Holy  Ghost  with 
poioer  to  wash  aioay  sin  ;  for  it  is  immediately  added, 
"and  grant  that  this  child,  now  to  be  baptized  therein, 
[in  this  water,  thus  sanctified  for  the  mystical  wash- 
ing away  of  sin,]  may  receive  the  fulness  of  thy 
grace." 

This  office,  then,  teaches  some  kind  of  a  change  in 
the  water,  as  the  communion  office  does  in  the  bread  and 
wine.  Does  it  also  agree  with  the  reformers  in  teaching 
the  other  doctrine  spoken  of  above,  namely,  a  spiritual 
change  or  renovation  of  the  soul  effected  in  baptism  ? 
I  think  it  does.  The  following  seems  to  me  very  much 
to  this  point.  "  We  call  upon  thee  for  this  infant,  that 
he,  coming  to  thy  holy  baptism,  may  receive  remission 
of  sin,  by  spiritual  regeneration,"  —  "spiritual,"  not 
ecclesiastical,  regeneration.  And  again  :  "  Give  thy 
Holy  Spirit  to  this  infant,  that  he  may  be  born  again, 
and  made  an  heir  of  everlasting  salvation."  To  re- 
ceive the  "Holy  Spirit,"  and  to  "be  born  again"  in 
baptism,  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  "  made  an  heir  of 
everlasting  salvation,"  is  certainly  to  receive  all  the 
spiritual  change  one  is  capable  of,  and  all  that  can 
be  needed.  The  same  in  their  general  import  are  these 


THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 


119 


words  :  "  O  merciful  God,  grant  that  the  old  Adam  in 
this  child  matj  be  so  buried  that  the  neio  mmi  may  be 
raised  up  in  him.  Grant  that  all  sinful  affections  may 
die  in  himy  "  Seeing  now,  dearly  deloved  brethren, 
that  this  child  is  regenerate,  and  grafted  into  the  body 
of  Christ's  church."  And  again:  "We  yield  thee 
hearty  thanks,  most  merciful  Father,  that  it  hath 
pleased  thee  to  regenerate  this  infant  with  thy  Holy 
Spirit,  to  receive  him  for  thine  oxvn  child,  and  to  incor- 
porate him  into  thy  holy  church.  And  humbly  we 
beseech  thee  to  grant,  that  he,  bei?ig  dead  nnto  sifi,  and 
living  unto  righteousness,  and  beirig  buried  ivith  Christ 
in  his  death,  may  crucify  the  old  man,  and  utterly 
abolish  the  whole  body  of  sin ;  and  that  as  he  is  made 
partaker  of  the  death  of  thy  Son,  he  may  also  be  par- 
taker of  his  resurrection,"  &c. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  upon  any  scriptural 
argument  to  show  that  infants  are  not  "really  regen- 
erated by  a  change  of  their  moral  nature,  in  baptism, 
as  its  source,  or  cause,  or  instrument;"  for  this,  says 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Butler,  in  his  "  Common  Prayer  Inter- 
preted," does  "overthrow  all  the  statements  of  scrip- 
ture." It  is  admitted,  almost  universally,  among 
evangelical  churchmen,  that  such  a  view  of  baptism  is 
not  true,  wherever  found.  All  I  need  to  do,  therefore, 
—  for  I  am  not  writing  to  convince  Romanists  or  trac- 
tarians, — is  to  show  that  such  is  the  teaching  of  the 
baptismal  office. 

And  now,  can  the  strong  passages  I  have  cited  mean 
merely  an  outward  change?  It  does  appear  to  me 
that,  to  say  so,  is  to  set  at  naught  all  the  help  to  be 
derived  from  a  knowledge  of  what  the  framers  of  the 
liturgy  believed,  and  practically  to  avow  the  impossi- 
bility of  expressing  an  inward  moral  change  of  the 
soul  by  any  language  whatever.    For  how  is  it  possi- 


120 


THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 


ble  to  find  stronger  language  than  has  been  quoted 
above  1  First,  there  is  the  prayer  that  the  water  may- 
be sanctified  to  the  mystical  washing  away  of  sin; 
then,  that  the  child,  being  baptized  therein,  may  re- 
ceive the  fulness  of  God's  grace;  then,  that,  coming  to 
baptism^  it  may  not  only  receive  "remission  of  sin," 
but  "spiritual  regeneration;"  that  it  may  be  "born 
again,"  and  "made  an  heir  of  everlasting  salvation;" 
that  the  "  old  Adam  may  be  buried  in  him,"  and  that 
all  "sinful  aflfections  may  die  in  him,"  &c.  Such  things 
are  prayed  for.  And  after  the  child  is  baptized,  the 
people  are  told  that  it  is  "regenerated,"  and  grafted 
into  the  church ;  and  God  is  also  thanked  that  he  has 
been  pleased  to  "regenerate"'''  the  child  by  his  "  Holy 
Spirit,''''  and  to  adopt  him  as  his  "own  child."  In 
the  same  prayer,  it  is  also  affirmed,  that  the  child  is 
now  "dead  unto  sin,"  and  buried  with  Christ  in  his 
death. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say  that  no  words  can 
more  fully  express  the  idea  of  a  "  change  of  the  moral 
nature"  effected  "in  baptism."  It  is  plain  that  the 
interpretation  of  this  service,  which  makes  it  mean  a 
mere  "change  of  state,"  is  lame  at  every  point.  To 
the  mind  of  one  who  should  read  the  service  for  the 
first  time,  knowing  nothing  of  the  controversies  re- 
specting it,  the  thought  could  not  be  even  suggested. 
Burnet,  in  describing  the  Savoy  Conference,  speaks  of 
the  changes  in  the  liturgy  demanded  by  the  presbyte- 
rians,  and  after  referring  to  other  alterations  insisted 
on,  he  says,  "  They  excepted  to  many  parts  of  the 
office  of  baptism  that  import  the  inward  regeneration 
of  all  that  were  baptized."  *  The  passage  is  particu- 
larly valuable  in  this  connection,  as  embodying  Bur- 


*  His  Own  Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  180. 


THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 


121 


net's  testimony  to  the  fact  that  several  parts  of  the 
baptismal  office  do  import  an  "inward  regeneration;" 
and  this  testimony  is  the  more  valuable  as  it  is  alto- 
gether incidental.  He  speaks  of  such  a  sense  as  if 
it  were  then  everywhere  taken  for  granted,  as  if  no 
other  had  been  thought  of  And  although  I  do  not 
affirm  it, — for  I  have  not  sufficiently  examined  the 
point, — yet  my  belief  is,  that  all  Episcopalian  writers, 
before  Burnet's  time,  understood  this  office  to  teach  a 
spiritual  change  of  the  soul  in  baptism.  I  observe  that 
in  bishop  Brownell's  Commentary  on  the  prayer-book, 
his  quotations  from  earlier  authors  give  it  this  interpre- 
tation, while  his  citations  from  writers  of  our  own  time 
generally  adopt  the  notion  of  a  mere  "admission  into 
the  christian  church,  the  kingdom  of  Christ  existing  in 
a  two-fold  state — on  earth  and  in  heaven."  Should  I 
prove  to  be  right  in  regard  to  the  modern  origin  of  this 
latter  interpretation,  any  person  who  will  point  me  to 
the  author  who  first  broached  it,  will  confer  a  special 
favor. 

In  answer  to  the  objection  that  the  word  "regenera- 
tion" means  only  an  outward  grafting  into  the  church, 
it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  one  syllable ;  because, 
in  the  first  place,  the  opposite  is  plain  from  the  ex- 
pression, "  regenerated  and  grafted  into  the  church," 
showing  that  regenerating  and  grafting  are  two  differ- 
ent things;  and,  in  the  second  place,  there  is  not,  in 
this  office,  a  mere  using  of  the  word  "regenerate;"  but 
all  the  other  strong  terms,  implying  a  moral  change  of 
the  soul,  are  also  employed. 

To  the  views  here  urged  it  is  objected,  that,  as  the 
Scriptures  speak  of  the  visible  church  as  holy  because  it 
is  so  by  profession,  so  the  prayer-book  addresses  adult 
candidates  for  baptism  as  if  they  really  possessed  what 
they  profess  to  have,  and  of  infants  as  regenerated  be- 
ll 


122 


THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 


cause  they  are  so  by  consecration  and  profession.  But 
the  same  remark  is  again  apphcable,  that  the  word 
regeneration  is  not  used  alone.  It  is  backed  up  with 
all  the  strong  phrases  which  denote  an  inward  change. 
The  subjects  of  baptism  are  said  not  only  to  be  regen- 
erated, but  to  have  the  Holy  Spirit  given  to  them,  to 
be  born  again,  to  be  made  heirs  of  everlasting  salva- 
tion, to  be  received  as  the  children  of  God  by  adoption, 
to  have  the  old  Adam  buried  in  them,  to  have  all  sinful 
affections  die  in  them,  to  have  the  new  man  raised  up 
in  them,  to  be  buried  with  Christ  in  his  death,  to  be 
dead  unto  sin,  to  be  made  partakers  of  the  death  of  the 
Son  of  God. 

Moreover,  the  prayer-book  not  only  takes  it  for 
granted  that  adult  persons  receiving  baptism  actually 
possess  what  they  profess  to  have,  but  it  represents 
that  possession  as  conferred  by  baptism ;  and  in  this 
consists  the  heresy. 

To  show  that  this  is  so,  I  remark,  in  the  first  place, 
that  the  introductory  exhortation  addressed  to  the  con- 
gregation is  constructed  entirely  on  the  supposition 
that  the  persons  coming  to  be  baptized  are  in  a  state 
of  nature.  For  the  congregation  are  first  told  that  per- 
sons "in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God,  but  live  in  sin," 
&c. ;  and  they  are  then  called  upon  to  pray  that  God 
would  "  grant  these  persons  that  which  by  nature  they 
cannot  have,"  and  which,  of  coui'se,  they  have  not 
now;  and  "  that  they  may  be  baptized  with  water  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  received  into  Christ's  church, 
and" — by  being  so  baptized  and  so  received — "be 
made  lively  members  of  the  same."  Then,  to  confirm 
the  idea,  already  conveyed,  that  they  are  yet  "in  the 
flesh,"  a  prayer  is  offered  that  "they,  coming  to  holy 
baptism,  may  receive  remission  of  tlieir  sins,  and  spir- 
itual regeneration, — implying  that  their  sins  had  not 


THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 


123 


been  previously  remitted,  and  that  they  had  not  before 
experienced  spiritual  regeneration.  And  in  another 
prayer  which  follows,  we  find  this  language:  "Give 
thy  Holy  Spirit  to  these  persons,  that  they  maybe  born 
again,  and  be  made  heirs  of  everlasting  salvation." 

How  can  it  be  pretended  that  the  language  of  the 
prayer-book  is  framed  on  the  supposition  that  the  re- 
generating grace  is  bestowed  before  baptism?  It  is 
framed  on  the  supposition  that  the  regenerating  grace 
is  bestowed  at,  in,  by,  and  through  baptism,  as  the 
above  quotations  fully  show. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Before  the  baptismal  water  is 
used,  the  minister  addresses  the  candidates  thus : 
"Well-beloved,  who  are  come  hither  desiring  to  re- 
ceive holy  baptism,  ye  have  heard  how  the  congrega- 
tion hath  prayed,  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would 
vouchsafe  to  receive  you  and  bless  you,  to  release  yon 
of  you?-  sins"  &c.  Here  is  the  prominent  idea  still 
before  the  mind.  The  candidates  are  not  yet  released 
from  their  sins,  not  yet  regenerated,  not  yet  made  the 
children  of  God,  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom.  They  are 
waiting  before  God,  ready  to  receive  "one  baptism 
for  the  remission  of  sins." 

And  then,  the  moment  water  is  applied,  see  how  the 
whole  language  is  changed.  They  are  now  no  longer 
waiting  for  the  blessing  of  regeneration  and  remission, 
—  they  have  received  it.  Noiv,  "these  persons  are 
regenerate;"  they  are  ^^now  born  again,  made  heirs 
of  everlasting  salvation;"  for  such  is  the  language 
which  follows.  " 

It  only  remains  to  be  said  that  the  olfering  of  a  prayer 
of  consecration  over  the  baptismal  water  is,  as  in  the 
case  of  consecrating  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  other 
sacrament,  entirely  unscriptural.  This,  however,  is,  if 
possible,  a  more  glaring  departure  from  scripture  than 


124 


THE  BAPTISMAL  OFFICE. 


the  other ;  for  there  is  no  passage  of  the  word  of  truth 
which  can  be  construed  even  into  an  apparent  sanction 
of  such  an  act.  It  is  a  practice  derived  from  the  Ro- 
man church,  and  not  from  the  Bible  ;  from  the  notion 
that  water  thus  becomes  endowed  by  the  Spirit  with 
power  to  wash  away  sin,  and  not  from  any  just  views 
of  this  christian  rite.  It  is  a  practice  which  it  is  high 
time  our  church  laid  aside.  Stretching  the  hands  over 
the  water,  frequently  dipping  them  into  the  water,  and 
calling  upon  God  to  sanctify  it  to  the  mystical  washing 
away  of  sin,  has  too  much  the  appearance  of  heathen 
incantation,  to  be  tolerated  in  a  protestant  church.  I 
invite  any  person  to  point  to  the  paosage  of  scripture 
which  directly,  or  even  remotely,  sanctions  such  a  prac- 
tice. 


125 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CATECHISM. 

The  teaching  of  our  catechism  is  in  complete  har- 
mony with  that  of  the  baptismal  office.  It  starts  with 
putting  into  the  mouth  of  the  child  a  declaration  of  the 
same  general  character  with  the  strong  passages  I  have 
quoted  from  that  service.  "Who  gave  you  this 
name?"  "My  sponsors  in  baptism,  wherein  I  was 
made  a  member  of  Christy  a  child  of  God,  and  an  in- 
heritor of  the  kingdom  of  heavenP  Being  made  a 
member  of  Christ  must  mean  one  of  two  things.  It 
either  implies,  as  bishop  Doane  affirms,  that  the  church 
is  Christ,  so  that  the  being  made  a  member  of  one  is 
the  same  thing  as  being  made  a  member  of  the  other, 
or  that  there  is  effected  in  baptism  an  immediate  spir- 
itual joining  to  Christ,  beside  the  outward  joining  to 
the  church.  Either  interpretation  gives  the  passage 
the  strongest  sense  it  is  capable  of  receiving.  "  Child 
of  God,"  is  also  as  strong  an  expression  as  our  lan- 
guage admits.  All  allow  that  one  in  whom  a  spir- 
itual change  has  not  been  effected,  is,  though  baptized, 
a  child  of  the  devil,  and  not  a  "child  of  God."  Hence 
the  language  is  either  false,  or  it  implies  that  a  spirit- 
ual change  is  wrought  in  baptism. 

"  How  many  sacraments  hath  Christ  ordained  in  his 
church?" 

"  Two  only,  as  generally  necessary  to  salvation." 

The  peculiar  phraseology  of  this  answer  is  generally 
overlooked.  It  always  carried  to  my  mind  the  force 
of  the  declaration,  that  though  Christ  has  established 
several  sacraments  in  his  church,  yet  he  has  estab- 
II* 


126 


THE  CATECHISM. 


lished  but  two  as  generally  necessary  to  salvation.  Let 
the  order  of  the  sentence  be  changed,  and  the  meaning 
will  be  more  apparent,  thus — '-As  generally  necessary 
to  salvation,  two  only."  There  is  not  the  shadow  of 
a  doubt  in  my  mind  that  such  a  meaning  was  intended 
by  the  compilers  of  the  liturgy.  It  is  in  exact  harmony 
with  the  teaching  of  the  homilies,  as  adduced  in  the 
third  chapter  of  part  first.  Matrimony  is  there  called 
a  sacrament ;  and  it  is  contended  that  there  are  other 
sacraments  beside  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  but 
it  is  said  they  are  not  such  sacraments  as  these  ;  that 
is,  we  may  presume,  they  are  unlike  these  in  not  being 
necessary  to  salvation,  as  well  as  in  other  particulars. 
Bishop  Taylor,  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  very 
greatest  man  the  English  church  ever  produced,  takes 
the  same  view.  In  a  passage  already  quoted,  he  says : 
"It  is  none  of  the  doctrine  of  the  church  of  England, 
that  there  are  two  sacraments  only ;  but  that  those  rit- 
uals commanded  in  scripture,  which  the  ecclesiastical 
use  calls  sacraments,  (by  a  word  of  art,)  two  only  are 
generally  necessary  to  salvation." 

"  What  meanest  thou  by  this  word  sacrament?  " 

"I  mean  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  an  inward 
and  spiritual  grace  given  unto  us ;  ordained  by  Christ 
himself,  as  a  means  whereby  we  receive  the  same,  and 
a  pledge  to  assure  us  thereof" 

"  How  many  parts  are  there  in  a  sacrament  ?" 

"Two;  the  outward  visible  sign,  and  the  inward 
spiritual  grace." 

"  What  is  the  outward  visible  sign  or  form  in  bap- 
tism?" 

"Water;  wherein  the  person  is  baptized,"  &c. 
"What  is  the  inward  and  spiritual  grace?" 
"  A  death  unto  sin,  and  a  new  birth  unto  righteous- 
ness." 


THE  CATECHISM. 


It  will  be  observed  here,  that  the  first  assertion 
above  declares  a  sacrament  to  be  merely  "  an  out- 
ward and  visible  sign."  Thus  far,  I  presume,  no  one 
would  attempt  to  convict  the  catechism  of  error. 
Baptism  is,  undoubtedly,  an  outward  sign — a  sign  of 
something  inward  and  spiritual,  —  not  the  inward  and 
spiritual  thi?ig  itself,  but  the  sign  of  it ;  for  if,  in  the 
language  of  bishop  Eastburn,  "  the  sign  becomes  the 
thing  which  it  signifies,  where  is  the  sign?" 

But  the  catechism,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  does  not  rest 
here.  It  proceeds,  as  the  reader  will  see  from  the 
above  extracts,  to  contradict  its  own  simple  definition 
of  a  sacrament.  Having  pronoimced  a  sacrament  to 
be  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  an  inward  and 
unseen  grace,  it  proceeds  at  once  to  say  that  it  is  both 
the  sign  and  the  thing  signified.  One  of  these  defini- 
tions must  be  incorrect.  If  a  sacrament  is  correctly 
defined  to  be  a  sign  of  grace,  then  it  cannot  be  the  sign 
and  the  grace  both.  If  it  be  true  that  it  is  both  the 
sign  and  the  grace,  then  it  is  not  correct  to  define  it  as 
merely  an  outward  sign  of  inward  grace. 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  last  definition  of  a  sacra- 
ment was  the  one  which  was  intended  to  be  adopted, 
and  the  one,  in  fact,  which  is  in  harmony  with  the 
introductory  sentences  of  the  catechism  ;  and  it  cannot 
escape  the  reader's  notice  that  it  presents  a  sacrament 
in  a  light  as  strong  as  any  tractarian  can  desire  ;  for, 
if  a  sacrament  consist  of  the  sign  and  the  grace,  then 
there  is  no  perfect  sacrament  where  the  "  inward  and 
spiritual  grace"  is  not  conveyed;  that  is  to  say,  there 
is  no  baptism,  unless  "  hereby spiritual  regeneration 
is  effected. 

Besides,  if  baptism  consist  of  both  the  outward  sign 
and  the  inward  grace,  then  the  inward  grace,  or  spir- 
itual renovation,  is  as  necessarily  a  part  of  baptism  as 


128 


THE  CATECHISM. 


the  outward  sign  ;  and  our  evangelical  men  who  inter- 
pret the  strong  language  of  the  baptismal  service  as 
meaning  no  more  than  an  outward  change,  not  only 
overlook  the  well-known  opinions  of  the  compilers  of 
the  liturgy,  but  subvert  the  very  nature  of  a  sacra- 
ment, robbing  it  of  its  most  important  part,  namely,  its 
internal  grace.  They  are  doing  a  work  similar  to  that 
of  the  philosopher  who  should  declare  that  the  soul  is 
not  an  essential  part  of  man  ;  for  if  the  sacrament  be 
composed  of  the  "outward  form"  and  the  "spiritual 
grace,"  the  latter  is  as  much  more  important  than  the 
former,  as  the  soul  of  man  is  more  important  than  his 
body,  and  as  much  more  essential  to  the  being  of  a 
sacrament,  as  the  soul  is  more  essential  than  the  body 
to  the  being  of  man. 

So  far  as  the  sacraments  are  concerned,  the  dividing 
line  between  truth  and  error  is  now,  I  think,  fairly 
under  the  eye  of  the  reader,  and  he  is  brought  to  a 
point  where  he  must  decide  for  himself,  whether  a 
sacrament  is  composed  of  "  two  parts,"  or  of  only  one  ; 
whether  it  is  merely  an  outward  sign,  or  whether  in 
its  essential  nature  it  includes  both  the  sign  and  the 
thing  signified.*    If  he  decide  in  favor  of  the  first  defi- 

*  The  true  protestant  idea  of  a  sacrament,  as  I  conceive,  is,  that  it 
is  a  simple  rite,  symbolizing  a  great  truth.  The  Koman  idea  is,  that 
it  is  a  mysterious  instrument,  which,  in  the  hands  of  a  divinely-com- 
missioned priest,  works  miraculous  and  supernatural  changes  in  the 
soul.  The  former  idea  necessarily  confines  its  nature  to  a  unit, 
making  it  consist  of  but  one  part,  —  a  simple  symbol  or  "  sign  "  of 
what  God  does  in  the  soul ;  the  latter  gives  it  a  dual  character,  mak- 
ing it  mysteriously  enfold  and  convey  the  inner  grace  along  with 
the  outer  sign.  Hence  the  sign  becomes  not  only  the  means  whereby 
the  inner  grace  is  received,  but  when  it  is  set  as  a  signet  upon  the 
brow,  it  stands  there  as  "  a  pledge  to  assure  us  "  that  the  grace  is 
received.  This  whole  question  in  dispute,  therefore,  may  be  made  to 
turn  on  the  question  whether  a  sacrament  has  two  parts  or  but  one. 

It  has  been  objected  that  any  duty  in  which  a  christian  can  engage 
—  such  as  prayer,  for  example — has  two  parts  —  the  outward  form, 
and  the  blessing  attending  it.  The  criticism  is  a  trifling  one  ;  but  it 
has  been  made,  and  I  answer  it  by  saying,  that,  in  the  case  of  the 


THE  CATECHISM. 


129 


nition,  then  he  rejects  the  opinion  of  our  reformers,  sets 
aside  our  baptismal  office  and  catechism,  and  in  view 
of  the  teaching  of  these^  subverts  the  nature  of  a  sacra- 
ment. If  he  take  the  latter  definition,  namely,  that  a 
sacrament  has  two  parts,  he  puts  himself  into  har- 
mony with  the  offices  of  his  church,  to  be  sure,  but  he 
virtually  joins  hands  with  the  supporters  of  tractarian 
views,  and  gives  his  support  to  the  first  principle  of  a 
merely  sacramental  theology.  He  must  take  his 
choice — either  embrace  the  views  of  the  offices  and 
catechism,  and  be  a  tractarian;  or  admit  that  the 
prayer-book  teaches  error,  and,  rejecting  its  teaching, 
embrace  such  protestant  doctrines  as  he  finds  revealed 
in  the  word  of  God. 

sacrament,  the  "inward  and  spiritual  grace"  is  supposed  to  be  apart 
of  the  sacrament  itself,  and  to  be  conveyed  to  the  soul  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacrament ;  whereas,  in  the  other  case,  prayer  comes 
from  the  soul  and  ascends  to  God,  while  the  answering  grace  is  from 
God,  and  descends  upon  the  soul.  Prayer  and  the  answer  of  prayer 
are  distinct  and  separate  things,  and  cannot  be  two  parts  of  the  same 
thing. 


130 


CHAPTER  V. 

OFFICE  FOR  THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  DEAD. 

The  first  rubric  which  stands  at  the  begiimiiig  of 
this  service  reads  thus :  "  Here  is  to  be  noted,  that  the 
oifice  ensuing  is  not  to  be  used  for  any  unbaptized 
adults,  any  who  die  excommunicate,  or  who  have  laid 
violent  hands  upon  themselves." 

The  observing  reader  will  see  in  this  rubric  a  recog- 
nition of  the  same  general  principle  which  runs 
through  the  office  of  baptism  and  the  catechism.  It 
implies  that  baptism,  being  the  cause,  or  instrument 
of  spiritual  regeneration,  is  to  be  taken  as  the  only 
evidence  of  christian  character,  or  of  the  state  of 
regeneration  and  adoption.  For  why  are  all,  except 
the  baptized,  excluded  from  christian  burial,  unless  for 
the  reason  that  no  others  are  christians  1 

That  such  is  a  true  inference  appears  very  plain 
from  the  passages  of  scripture,  expressive  of  christian 
triumph,  with  which  the  service  opens ;  passages  most 
beautifully  adapted  to  the  occasion  of  committing  the 
body  of  the  true  believer  to  the  ground,  but  shockingly 
inappropriate  and  revolting  when  used  at  the  burial 
of  a  baptized  drunkard  or  infidel.  But  our  church 
makes  no  distinction.  At  the  grave  of  the  one,  as  at  ' 
the  grave  of  the  other,  she  bids  her  ministers  repeat  in 
triumph,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life,  saith  the 
Lord  ;  he  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead, 
yet  shall  he  live ;  and  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth 
in  me,  shall  never  die."  I  know  a  person  may  quib- 
ble, and  say  there  is  no  positive  declaration  that  the 
departed,  over  whom  the  language  is  pronounced,  is  a 


OFFICE  FOR  THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  DEAD.  131 

believer  in  Jesus,  and  "shall  never  die;"  but  I  should 
not  en-vy  that  person  his  clearness  of  perception,  to 
whose  mind  such  a  meaning  was  not  obviously  con- 
veyed by  the  whole  scope  of  the  service ;  or  the  fair- 
ness of  one,  who,  perceiving  this  obvious  meaning, 
should  attempt  to  evade  it  in  the  way  just  named.* 

This  general  sentiment,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  is 
particularly  apparent  in  the  latter  part  of  the  service. 
"  Forasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God,  in  his 
wise  providence,  to  take  out  of  this  world  the  soul  of 
our  deceased  brother,  we  therefore  commit  his  body  to 
the  ground;  earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to 
dust ;  looking  for  the  general  resurrection  in  the  last 
day,  and  the  life  of  the  world  to  come,  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  at  whose  second  coming  in  glori- 
ous majesty  to  judge  the  world,  the  earth  and  the  sea 
shall  give  up  their  dead ;  and  the  corruptible  bodies 
of  those  who  sleep  in  him  shall  be  changed,  and 
made  like  unto  his  glorious  body;  according  to  the 
mighty  working  whereby  he  is  able  to  subdue  all 
things  unto  himself."  "  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven, 
saying  unto  me,  Write,  from  henceforth  blessed  are  the 
dead  who  die  in  the  Lord ;  even  so  saith  the  Spirit ; 
for  they  rest  from  their  labors."  "  Almighty  God, 
with  whom  do  live  the  spirits  of  those  who  depart 
hence  in  the  Lord ;  and  with  whom  the  souls  of  the 
faithful,  after  they  are  delivered  from  the  burden  of 
the  flesh,  are  in  joy  and  felicity ;  we  give  thee  hearty 

*  Calamy  reports  that  the  celebrated  Dr.  Tillotson  having  frankly 
owned  in  a  sermon,  that  the  dissenters  had  some  plausible  objections 
against  the  common  prayer,  archbishop  Bancroft  sent  for  him  to 
reprimand  him.  The  doctor  stood  to  what  he  had  asserted.  The 
archbishop  asked  him  what  parts  of  the  common  prayer  he  meant. 
He  mentioned  the  burial  service.  Upon  which  the  archbishop  owned 
to  him,  that  he  was  so  little  satisfied  with  that  office  himself,  that  for 
that  very  reason  he  had  never  taken  a  cure  of  souls.  —  Vol.  i., 
p.  226. 


132  OFFICE  FOR  THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  DEAD. 

thanks  for  the  good  example  of  all  those  thy  servants, 
who,  having  finished  their  course  in  faith,  do  now  rest 
from  their  labors."  "  O  merciful  God,  the  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  resurrection  and  the 
life ;  in  whom  whosoever  believeth  shall  live,  though 
he  die,  and  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in  him 
shall  not  die  eternally,  who  also  hath  taught  us,  by 
his  holy  apostle,  St.  Paul,  not  to  be  sorry,  as  men  with- 
out hope,  for  those  who  sleep  i?i  him,"  &c. 

That  all  these  sublime  exultations,  thanksgivings, 
and  ascriptions  of  praise,  should  be  employed  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  and  with  no  reference  to  the  person  com- 
mitted to  the  ground,  is  not  to  be  supposed.  They 
have  no  meaning,  unless  they  are  applicable  to  the 
occasions  on  which  they  are  used.  And  as  our  church 
uses  them  all  at  the  burial  of  every  baptized  person, 
forbidding  their  use  at  the  interment  of  every  nnbap- 
tized  individual,  the  inference  seems  quite  clear,  that 
she  regards  all  baptized  persons,  not  excommunicated, 
nor  destroyed  by  their  own  hands,  as  having  "  finished 
their  course  in  faith,"  as  dying  "in  the  Lord,"  and 
bids  us,  in  their  case,  "  not  to  be  sorry  as  men  without 
hope."  In  short,  it  is  a  complete  carrying  out  of  the 
teachings  of  the  baptismal  service  and  the  catechism ; 
for  since,  according  to  these,  men  are,  in  baptism, 
"born  again"  by  "spiritual  regeneration,"  made  tlie 
"children  of  God,"  and  "heirs  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven;"  the  burial  office  but  finishes  the  system,  by 
sending  them  to  heaven  when  they  die,  without  dis- 
tinction. 


133 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ORDINATION  OFFICE. 

It  is  well  known  that  those  who  entertain  the  high 
views  of  the  sacraments  which  we  have  seen  to  be  put 
forth  by  the  framers  of  our  offices,  usually  urge  ex- 
traordinary claims  in  behalf  of  ministerial  power  and 
authority.  The  exaltation  of  the  sacraments  has  ever 
been  the  immediate  causal  antecedent  of  the  lifting  up 
of  the  clerical  powers  and  claims.  This,  however,  is 
a  philosophical  view  of  the  subject,  which  falls  into  a 
subsequent  part  of  this  work,  and  which  I  can  use 
here  only  as  a  connecting  link  with  which  to  preserve 
imbroken  the  chain  of  my  argument,  and  to  fasten 
those  parts  of  the  prayer-book  which  bring  to  view  the 
functions  and  powers  of  the  ministry,  to  those  just 
considered,  which  unfold  the  alleged  nature  and  effi- 
cacy of  the  sacraments. 

It  is  plain  that  the  English  reformers  entertained 
extravagant  opinions  respecting  the  powers  of  the 
christian  ministry.  Hooker,  in  his  great  work,  has 
embodied  this  extravagance  thus  :  "  The  power  of  the 
ministry  of  God  translateth  out  of  darkness  into  glory ; 
it  raiseth  man  from  the  earth,  and  bringeth  God  him- 
self from  heaven;  [that  is,  as  the  context  shows,  it 
brings  Christ  down  from  heaven,  and  joins  him  to  the 
elements  of  bread  and  wine;]  by  blessing  visible  ele- 
ments, it  maketh  them  invisible  graces  ;  it  giveth  daily 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  it  hath  to  dispose  of  that  flesh  which 
was  giveti  for  the  life  of  the  world,  and  the  blood  ivhich 
was  poured  out  to  redeem  souls  ;  when  it  poureth  male- 
dictions vpoti  the  heads  of  the  wicked,  they  perish; 
12 


134 


ORDINATION  OFFICE. 


%t)he7i  it  revokeih  the  same,  they  revived  Extravagant 
as  this  language  is,  it  is  no  more  so  than  the  view 
of  the  sacraments  presented  in  the  prayer-book  will 
justify.  For,  if  the  ministry,  by  invoking  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the  bread  and  wine,  can  so 
change  them,  "that"  we  may  receive  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  by  "  7-eceiving  them;"  if  the  clergy 
have  the  command  of  the  Spirit,  so  as  at  all  times, 
whether  in  a  holy  or  an  miholy  frame  of  mind,  to  pro- 
cure such  a  consecration  of  water  that  it  shall  mysti- 
cally wash  away  sin ;  if  they  hold  in  their  hands  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  in  such  a  sense  that  by  admin- 
istering baptism  they  may  admit  whomsoever  they 
will,  making  them  "  members  of  Christ,"  "children  of 
God,"  and  "heirs  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  com- 
mitting all  such  to  the  ground  when  they  die,  in  a  joy- 
ful looking  for  the  resurrection  from  the  dead, — at  the 
same  time  excluding  all  unbaptized  persons  from 
christian  burial,  as  though  nothing  save  the  water 
ihey  had  consecrated  could  wash  away  sin,  and  fit  the 
soul  for  heaven ;  —  if  such  things  may  be  done  by  the 
ministry,  then  Hooker  is  right  in  saying,  "It  trans- 
late th  out  of  darkness  into  glory,"  and  "  raise  th  man 
from  the  earth ;"  then  he  cannot  be  far  out  of  the  way 
when  he  says,  those  "  perish"  upon  whom  "it  poureth 
maledictions,"  and  "revive"  when  "it  revoketh  the 
same."  And  then,  especially,  the  reader  will  be  pre- 
pared to  listen  without  surprise  to  the  language  of  the 
bishop,  when,  in  the  act  of  ordination,  he  lays  his 
hands  upon  the  head  of  the  person  to  be  ordained,  and 
says,  "  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost  for  the  office  and 
work  of  a  priest  in  the  church  of  God,  now  committed 
unto  thee  by  the  imposition  of  our  hands  ;  whose  sins 
thou  dost  forgive,  they  are  forgiven ;  and  whose  sins 
thou  dost  retain,  they  are  retained," 


ORDINATION  OFFICE. 


135 


This  is  certainly  in  harmony  with  what  has  gone 
before.  If  the  'presbyter  can  consecrate  water  so  that 
it  shall  wash  away  sin ;  if  he  can  bring  down  Christ 
from  heaven,  and  so  mysteriously  mix  his  spiritual 
nature  with  bread  and  wine  as  to  change  "  visible  ele- 
ments" into  "invisible  graces," — it  is  surely  no  mar- 
vel that  the  bishop  can  give  "the  Holy  Ghost"  to 
whom  he  will,  even  though  he  use  the  imperative 
word —  "  receive."  If  the  presbyter  "  hath  to  dispose 
of  that  flesh  which  was  given  for  the  life  of  the 
world,"  it  is  not  strange  that  the  bishop  may  have  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  dispose  of  with  equal  freedom.  We 
are  obliged,  therefore,  to  regard  the  teaching  of  the 
ordination  office  as  a  faithful  carrying  out,  or  more 
properly,  a  genuine  development,  of  the  high  sacra- 
mental views  which  lie  just  behind  it  in  the  com- 
munion, baptismal,  and  burial  offices,  and  in  the  cate- 
chism. However  little  of  gospel  truth  there  may  be, 
therefore,  in  this  part  of  the  ordination  office,  and 
however  little  light  it  may  throw  upon  any  sound  sys- 
tem of  christian  theology,  it  throws  backward  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  interpretative  light,  so  to  speak, 
upon  the  portions  of  the  prayer-book  already  consid- 
ered ;  and  under  the  guidance  of  this  light,  the  reader 
is  requested  to  rim  his  thoughts  back  over  the  argu- 
ments adduced  in  favor  of  the  strong  and  obvious 
sense  put  upon  those  parts  of  the  common  prayer. 
When  this  is  done,  he  will  be  ready  for  the  inquiry, 
Avhether  the  portion  of  the  ordinal  quoted  above 
can  be  otherwise  regarded  than  as  expressive  of  an 
unsound  and  dangerous  assumption  of  episcopal 
power. 

The  words  of  the  ordinal,  to  which  objection  is  now 
made,  are  the  same  with  those  used  by  our  Saviour 
to  his  disciples,  when  he  came  suddenly  to  them. 


136 


ORDINATION  OFFICE. 


and,  breathing  on  them,  said,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  &c.* 

The  inquiry  Avhich  here  naturally  springs  to  the 
mind  is.  Did  our  Lord  intend  this  as  an  act  of  ordina- 
tion ?  Of  course  it  would  not  become  me  to  say  he 
did  not.  Yet  to  my  mind,  there  are  certainly  very 
reasonable  doubts  hanging  over  the  question.  If  it 
were  an  ordination,  the  apostles  who  were  ordained 
did  not  appear  conscious  of  the  fact ;  for  when  Thomas 
came  in,  they  had  nothing  to  say  to  him  of  any  ordi- 
nation, but  merely  told  him  they  had  seen  the  Lord. 
Moreover,  if  the  apostles  then  received  their  ministe- 
rial commission,  it  does  not  appear  that  Thomas  was 
ordained,  for  he  was  absent,  and  there  is  no  account 
of  his  being  ordained  at  any  other  time. 

But  if  there  is  no  evidence  that  this  was  an  ordina- 
tion, then  it  is  certainly  incongruous,  to  say  the  least, 
to  take  words  which  were  employed  on  another  occa- 
sion, and  for  another  purpose,  and  use  them  in  an 
ordination  service  as  the  formula  for  expressing  the 
conveyance  of  the  ministerial  commission. 

At  all  events,  whatever  was  the  object  of  this  par- 
ticular act,  it  is  evident  that  Christ  alone  has  power  to 
bestow  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  object  to  this  part  of  the 
service,  then,  on  three  grounds.  1.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence that  this  was  an  ordination,  and  it  is  therefore 
improper  to  use  these  words  on  such  an  occasion.  2. 
Granting  it  to  be  an  ordination,  it  then  follows  that 
the  bishops  ought  to  breathe  upon  those  whom  they 
ordain,  and  omit  all  those  words  in  the  ordinal  not 
used  by  Christ,  in  order  to  make  their  imitation  of  him 
at  all  consistent.  3.  It  is  the  next  thing  to  blasphemy, 
to  attempt  to  imitate  Christ  in  the  bestowment  of  the 


*  John  XX.  22,  23. 


ORDINATION  OFFICE. 


137 


Holy  Ghost,  whatever  the  particular  significance  of 
the  act  he  performed  when  he  found  the  disciples 
alone. 

There  are  three  senses  in  which  the  words,  "  Whose 
soever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted,"  &c.,  may  be 
understood.  First,  the  absolute  sense,  which  implies 
the  full  power  to  forgive  sins — a  power  which  practi- 
cally embodies  itself  in  the  phrase — "I  absolve  thee 
from  all  thy  sins."  Of  course,  no  person  could  be 
invested  with  this  power,  unless  he  were  endowed 
with  the  gift  of  discerning  spirits.  Speaking  of  what 
our  Lord  said  to  his  disciples,  Matthew  Henry  remarks, 
—  "In  the  strict  sense,  this  is  a  special  commission  to 
the  apostles  themselves,  and  the  first  preachers  of  the 
gospel,  who  could  distinguish  who  were  in  the  gall  of 
bitterness  and  bond  of  iniquity,  and  who  were  not. 
By  virtue  of  this  power,  Peter  struck  Ananias  and 
Sapphira  dead,  and  Paul  struck  Elymas  blind." 
Secondly,  these  words  may  have  the  more  general 
meaning,  that  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  author- 
ized to  declare  to  every  man,  that  if  he  repents,  his 
sins  are  forgiven,  and  if  he  does  not  repent,  that  his 
sins  are  retained  and  treasured  up  against  him. 
Thirdly,  they  may  mean  that  all  penitent  persons 
whom  the  apostles  should  admit  into  church  fellow- 
ship, on  gospel  terms,  God  would  admit  into  fellowship 
with  himself 

If  the  first  of  these  senses  is  true  at  all,  it  is  of 
course  true  only  of  the  apostles  and  early  heralds  of 
the  gospel,  or  those  of  them  who  were  not  only 
endowed  with  the  general  gifts  of  the  Spirit,  but  with 
the  special  gift  of  the  "  discerning  of  spirits."*  The 
second  and  the  third,  then,  are  the  only  senses  in 

*  1  Cor.  xii.  10. 

12* 


138 


ORDINATION  OFFICE. 


which  they  can  be  apphcable  to  ministers  at  the  pres- 
ent day ;  and  hence  they  can  be  unobjectionable  only 
when  separated  from  the  words  which  imply  some 
miraculous  gift  of  the  Spirit.  To  use  them  in  connec- 
tion with  the  words  —  "Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost," 
is  to  give  them  the  sense  which  the  Roman  Catholic 
attaches  to  them,  and  to  expose  those  who  thus 
employ  them  to  the  just  rebuke  and  censure  of  a 
protestant  community. 


139 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  ABSOLUTION. 

In  close  doctrinal  alliance  with  the  ordination  office, 
stands  "  The  declaration  of  absolution  or  remission  of 
sins."  The  latter  is  but  an  attempted  arrangement  for 
a  constant  exercise  of  the  power  said  to  be  conferred  in 
ordination.  The  presbyter,  having  been  told  at  his 
ordination  that  he  has  the  power  of  forgiving  sins, 
finds  here,  prepared  to  his  hands,  a  formula  of  words, 
in  which  he  is  to  exercise  this  extraordinary  function ; 
and  accordingly  he  rises  from  his  knees,  at  the  end  of 
the  first  prayer  or  general  confession, — the  people  re- 
maining in  the  kneeling  posture,  —  and  says — "Al- 
mighty God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
desireth  not  the  death  of  a  sinner,  but  rather  that  he 
may  turn  from  his  wickedness  and  live,  hath  given 
POWER  and  commandment  to  his  ministers  to  declare  and 
pronounce  to  his  people,  being  penitent,  the  absolution 
and  remission  of  their  sins." 

In  order  to  meet  fairly  and  honestly  the  logical  se- 
quence of  this  annunciation,  he  ought  now  to  go  on 
and  say — I,  therefore,  in  obedience  to  this  "com- 
mand," and  in  virtue  of  this  "power,"  do  "declare 
and  pronounce"  a  full  remission  and  absolution  of  all 
your  sins, — so  that  yau  are  hereby  entirely  acquitted 
in  the  sight  of  God.  But  instead  of  this  straight-for- 
ward acceptance  of  an  inference  fairly  flowing  from 
the  premises  annoimced,  he  is  made  to  shrink  away  in 
a  cowardly  manner,  and  to  take  up  the  mere  christian 
truism,  that  God  "pardoneth  and  absolveth  all  those 
who  truly  repent,  and  unfeignedly  believe  his  holy 


140  THE  DECLARATION  OF  ABSOLUTION. 

gospel ;"  and  to  turn  the  whole  thing  almost  into  a 
burlesque,  by  beginning  to  exhort  the  people,  "  Let  us 
beseech  him  to  grant  us  true  repentance,  and  his  Holy- 
Spirit."  &c. 

This  declaration  of  absolution  appears  to  be  fairlj'' 
exposed  to  several  objections. 

1.  The  first  objection  is,  that  the  introductory  lan- 
guage is  too  strong.  It  implies  a  power  of  absolving 
from  sin  more  absolute  than  any  man  can  possess  who 
is  not  endowed  with  the  gift  of  discerning  spirits ;  and 
as  that  gift  has  not  been  bestowed  since  apostolic  times, 
the  language  is  inadmissible. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  illogical,  as  I  have  shown 
above, — compelling  the  minister  to  shrink  from  the 
fair  conclusion  of  his  own  premises,  and,  instead  of 
exercising  his  asserted  right  to  absolve,  to  declare 
merely  what  any  christian  in  the  assembly  might  de- 
clare, namely,  that  God  forgives  the  sins  of  penitent 
persons. 

3.  The  third  objection  to  this  form  of  absolution  is, 
that  the  minister  having  been  first  compelled  to  an- 
nounce his  power  to  declare  and  pronounce  absolution, 
and  God's  command^^  that  he  should  do  so,  and  then 
having  disap})o'mted  the  naturally  excited  expectation 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  he  is  about  to  exercise 
the  consoling  power  upon  them,  —  he  is  obliged  still 
further  to  confuse  them,  by  abruptly  bringing  them 
back  upon  an  equality  with  himself,  and  exhorting 
them  to  join  with  him  in  mutual  prayer,  that  God 
would  bestow  upon  them  both,  what  he  had  just  de- 
clared himself  empowered  and  commanded  to  pro- 
nounce upon  them,  namely,  absolution  from  sin. 

4.  The  next  objection  to  this  part  of  the  service  is, 
that  it  is  not  what  it  professes  to  be ;  that  is,  it  is  not  a 
declaration  of  absolution.    In  the  words  of  bishop 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  ABSOLUTION. 


141 


White,  "  Although  it  affirms  a  certain  authority  in  the 
speaker,  he  is  not  made  to  exercise  the  authority  on 
those  before  him,  however  possessed  of  necessary  requi- 
sites." He  rises  from  his  knees,  and  in  a  formal  man- 
ner makes  known  his  authority  to  do  a  certain  thing, 
but,  notwithstanding  the  expectation  he  has  raised, 
does  not  do  it ;  and  when  he  gets  through,  he  may  be 
said  to  have  declared  and  pronounced  his  authority  — 
nothing  more. 

5.  Another,  and,  if  possible,  a  more  serious  objection 
to  this  part  of  the  service,  is,  that  it  bears  so  strikingly 
the  marks  and  lineaments  of  that  Janus-faced  policy 
which  smiles  in  one  direction  upon  Romanists,  and  in 
another  upon  protestants.  I  showed,  in  a  former  chap- 
ter, that  the  English  reformation  was  conducted,  in 
part,  on  the  compromise  principle ;  and  here  we  have 
an  example  of  an  attempt  to  preserve  that  "external" 
papal  "face  of  things,"  of  which  Burnet  speaks, 
which  was  supposed  to  have  so  potent  an  influence 
"to  draw  the  people  more  entirely  into  the  reforma- 
tion ;"  with  the  general  impression,  we  presume,  that 
as  they  "are  apt  to  judge,"  as  he  further  states,  "in 
things  of  ignorance,  by  outward  appearances  more 
than  by  the  real  vahie  of  things ;  so  the  jjreserving  an 
exterior,  that  looked  somewhat  like  what  they  had  been 
formerly  accustomed  to,  had  a  great  effect  at  first  on 
m,any  persons,  who,  without  that,  could  not  have  been 
easily  brouglU  over  to  adhere  to  the  work."  The  call- 
ing this  part  of  the  service  a  "declaration  of  absolu- 
tion, or  remission  of  sins,"  together  with  the  minister's 
rising  up,  and  announcing  that  God  has  given  him 
power  to  declare  and  pronounce  absolution  and  remis- 
sion, would  all  have  to  the  minds  of  the  people  the 
"external  face"  and  appearance  of  that  to  which 
"  they  had  been  formerly  accustomed,"  that  is  to  Ro- 


142 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  ABSOLUTION. 


manism  itself;  while  the  illogical  and  abrupt  slide  into 
something  bearing  no  resemblance  to  an  exercise  of  the 
power  of  absolution,  would  avail  to  satisfy  the  con- 
sciences of  many  protestants.  The  whole  aspect  of  the 
thing  admirably  illustrates  the  remark,  as  already 
quoted,  of  the  bishops  belonging  to  the  commission  ap- 
pointed by  Charles  II.  to  revise  the  liturgy,  namely, 
"  It  was  the  wisdom  of  our  reformers  to  draw  up  such 
a  liturgy  as  neither  Romanist  nor  protestant  could  well 
except  against."  * 

At  quite  an  early  period,  there  began  to  appear  in 
the  christian  church  a  disposition  to  dramatize  the 
several  parts  of  christian  worship ;  that  is,  to  embody 
certain  general  hints  thrown  out  in  the  Scriptures  in 
specific  formulas,  and  to  repeat  them  before  the  con- 
gregation, accompanying  them  with  theatrical  acts  and 
gesticulations,  intended  to  illustrate  and  give  them  sig- 
nificance. To  this  general  tendency,  the  other  form 
of  absolution,  which  is  precatory  in  its  nature,  owes  its 
origin.  Christ  had  given  to  his  ministers  the  authority 
to  declare  in  general  terms  the  forgiveness  of  all  who 
should  receive  the  gospel,  repent  of  sins,  and  live  a 
holy  life ;  and  the  authority,  too,  to  tell  any  individual 
man  who  inquired  the  way  of  salvation,  that,  on  the 
condition  of  repentance  and  faith,  he'  should  be  for- 
given. But  the  early  church,  not  contented  with  any 
general  exercise  of  the  power,  attempted,  in  its  drama- 
tizing zeal,  as  often  as  each  recurrence  of  divine  wor- 
ship, formally  to  act-  it  out,  and  in  a  way  which  was 
never,  we  may  presume,  intended  by  our  Lord. 

Possibly,  indeed  not  unlikely,  the  desire  to  make  the 
sinner  dependent  on  the  ministry  for  salvation,  to  shut 
him  up  to  the  necessity  of  receiving  divine  grace 


*  Dr.  Cardwell's  Hist,  of  Coaferences,  &c.,  p.  338. 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  ABSOLUTION.  143 

through  that  channel,  to  lay  him  prostrate  at  the  feet 
of  the  priesthood  as  an  humble  beggar  for  admission 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  may  have  had  something 
to  do  with  the  attempt  to  give  particular  form.,  and 
regularly  recurring  'prominence  to  an  alleged  absolving 
power.  Certain  it  is  that  it  is  well  fitted  to  encourage 
the  worst  forms  of  spiritual  despotism. 

The  word  "priest,"  as  it  occurs  in  the  rubric  which 
precedes  the  first  form  of  absolution,  is  worthy  of  some 
attention.  It  evidently  throws  some  light  on  the  gen- 
eral design  and  intent  of  this  part  of  the  service.  This 
was,  at  the  Savoy  conference,  substituted  in  the  place 
of  "minister."  The  Presbyterian  divines  who  at- 
tended the  conference  requested, — a  very  reasonable 
request,  —  that  the  word  minister  might  be  used 
throughout  the  book  of  common  prayer.  But  the  bish- 
ops said  there  were  some  ofiices  which  a  deacon  might 
not  perform,  "particularly  the  absolution  and  conse- 
cration," and  that  it  was  necessary  to  preserve  the 
word  priest  to  distinguish  the  powers  of  the  two  orders. 
They,  therefore,  not  only  refused  to  make  the  request- 
ed alteration,  but  struck  the  word  minister  out  of  this 
rubric,  and  inserted  the  word  priest.  It  cannot  be 
pleaded,  therefore,  that  the  word  is  here  used  care- 
lessly, and  is  intended  to  mean  no  more  than  minister. 
It  is  avowedly  employed  to  signify  that  higher  grade 
of  the  clergy  who  have  the  power  to  consecrate,  that 
is,  to  consecrate  bread  and  wine,  to  make  them  "holy ;" 
who  have  the  power,  in  the  language  of  Hooker,  "  to 
bring  down  God  from  heaven;"  —  that  is,  the  God- 
man,  Christ,  —  and  so  to  mingle  his  nature  with  the 
bread  and  wine,  that  the  "visible  elements"  shall  be- 
come "invisible  graces;"  who  have  the  power,  there- 
fore, to  make  a  sacrifice  in  the  eucharist,  and  who  are 
priests  in  the  true  primary  sense  of  the  term. 


H4  THE  DECLARATION  OP  ABSOLUTION. 

Besides,  as  they  are  called  priests  here  in  order  to 
distinguish  them  from  the  order  of  deacons,  and  to  ex- 
clude the  deacon  from  the  right  of  pronouncing  abso- 
lution, it  follows  that  the  absolving  power  here  set 
forth  is  intended  to  be  something  more  absolute  than  a 
general  proclamation  of  pardon  through  faith ;  for  this, 
a  deacon  might  make  as  well  as  a  priest.  That  is  to 
say,  the  deacon  may  declare  from  the  pulpit  that  God 
will  forgive  every  penitent  sinner;  but  he  may  not 
pronounce  this  absolution  from  the  desk ;  therefore  this 
declaration  is  understood  by  our  church  to  be  some- 
thing more  than  any  such  general  declaration.  Of  this 
view  of  the  subject  I  have  never  seen  even  an  attempt- 
ed answer. 


145 


CHAPTER  Vm. 

THE  CALENDAR. 

The  chapter  on  the  homiUes  created,  when  pubhshed 
in  the  Christian  Alhance,  a  considerable  feeling ;  and 
much  of  this  feeling  arose,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe, 
from  the  exposure  there  made  of  a  full  recognition  in 
the  homilies  of  the  apocrypha  as  a  part  of  the  inspired 
Scriptures.  It  was  clear  that  such  a  recognition  was 
there  ;  and  it  was  equally  clear,  of  course,  that  it  was 
not  put  there  by  the  writer  of  these  pages.  He  was 
blamed,  therefore,  for  exposing  that  recognition ;  that 
is,  for  publishing  a  fact,  a  fact  which  is  not  denied,  and 
which  cannot  be  denied. 

It  has  been  denied,  however,  that  our  church,  in  its 
higher  standard,  namely,  the  prayer-book,  makes  any 
such  recognition.  It  has  been  said  that,  "in  the  worst 
aspect  of  the  case,  it  would  appear  that  the  church  has 
declared,  by  her  most  authoritative  standard,  that  the 
apocrypha  is  not,  and  by  a  standard  of  lower  author- 
ity, that  it  is,  a  part  of  the  canon  of  Scripture." 

Were  I  to  grant  the  truth  of  this  remark,  it  would 
only  help  me  to  establish  the  main  position  at  which  I 
aim  throughout  these  pages,  namely,  that  our  church  is 
inconsistent  with  itself,  —  that  it  is  not  everywhere  clear 
and  distinct  in  its  enunciations  of  truth  —  that  it  min- 
gles with  its  shining  protestant  gold  a  hurtful  and  de- 
basing alloy  of  Romanism. 

But  even  this  cannot  be  admitted.  The  apocrypha 
is  recognized  as  a  part  of  "holy  Scripture"  by  the 
"higher  authority,"  also,  namely,  the  prayer-book. 
13 


146 


THE  CALENDAR. 


The  rubric  which  stands  before  the  calendar  of  lessons 
for  the  year,  reads  thus  :  "  The  order  how  the  rest  of 
the  holy  Scripture  is  appointed  to  be  read."  Under 
this  general  designation  of  "holy  Scripture,"  I  find  no 
less  than  eighteen  lessons  selected  from  the  apocrypha. 
In  the  best  aspect  of  the  case,  therefore,  our  church 
recognizes  the  apocrypha  as  "holy  Scripture"  in  the 
prayer-book  and  homilies,  and  denies  it  to  be  such  in 
the  articles.* 

Now,  it  is  well  known  that  these  apocryphal  lessons 
in  the  calendar  were  one  of  the  prominent  grounds  of 
the  puritan  protest.  They  have  not  stood  there,  like 
obsolete  laws  upon  the  statute  book,  which  do  neither 
good  nor  harm,  because  nobody  knows  anything  about 
them.  For  more  than  a  hundred  years,  the  attention 
of  the  English  church  was  continually  drawn  to  them 
by  an  unceasing  protest.  They  were  known  to  be  the 
means  of  bringing  much  scandal  upon  the  church,  and 
to  be  the  occasion  of  driving  many  excellent  men  out 
of  it.  And  yet  there  they  stood,  labelled  "  holy  Scrip- 
ture," and  sanctioned  as  such  by  the  prayer-book,  the 
church's  "most  authoritative  standard." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  conjecture  why  these  lessons 
were  not  thrown  out  of  the  calendar  at  the  revision  of 
the  prayer-book  by  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church 
in  this  country.  That  was  a  favorable  opportunity 
for  clearing  itself  of  a  reproach  justly  resting  upon  it. 
Such  an  amendment  might  have  been  easily  made. 
Nothing  was  needed  but  to  drop  a  few  spurious  lessons 
out  of  the  calendar,  and  to  insert  a  few  in  their  place 
taken  from  what  is  in  truth  "  holy  Scripture."  Who 
can  tell  why  it  was  not  done  ?  Nay,  who  can  tell  why 
it  hgs  not  been  done  since  7  why  a  single  session  of  the 

*  The  articles,  5  need  hardly  say,  are  separate  things  from  the 
prayer-book ;  though  bound  up  with  it,  they  make  no  part  of  it. 


THE  CALENDAR. 


147 


general  convention  is  allowed  to  pass  without  the 
needed  correction  ?  While  these  lessons  remain,  does 
not  our  church  stand  before  the  christian  world  in  a 
very  equivocal  position,  to  say  the  least? 

Regard  tliis  matter  as  lightly  as  men  will ;  treat  this 
exposure  with  as  much  severity  as  they  please ;  the 
protestantism  of  no  church  will  or  can  pass  current 
and  unsuspected,  while  it  reckons  the  apocrypha  as  a 
part  of  God's  word. 


148 


PART  IV. 
THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  ARGUMENT. 

CERTAIN  rSAGES  SAKCTIONED  AND  USED  BY  THE  EPISCOPAL 
CHURCHES  OF  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA,  WHICH  NECESSA- 
"RILY,  ON  PHILOSOPHICAL  PRINCIPLES,  BEGET  ROMISH  VIEWS, 
AND  ROMISH  FEELINGS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE. 

The  general  subject  announced  above  as  the  topic 
of  discussion  in  this  part  of  the  Work,  very  naturally 
divides  itself  into  two  parts ;  the  first  of  which  em- 
braces all  those  usages,  employed  by  our  church, 
which  teach,  by  implication,  any  of  the  false  doctrines 
of  Rome ;  the  second,  comprehending  those  which  do 
not  teach  or  imply  false  doctrine,  but  which,  from 
their  resemblance  to  Roman  practices,  and  the  asso- 
ciations connected  with  them,  do  beget  superstitious 
and  Romish  feelings — thus  preparing  the  icay  for 
false  doctrine. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  argument  in 
this  chapter,  and  the  one  to  follow  it,  is  based  on  the 
principle  that  drapery,  arrangement,  signs,  actions, 
have  a  language  of  their  own,  and  frequently  convey 
a  meaning  as  distinct  and  impressive  as  the  best 
chosen  words.  This  principle  involves  the  philosophy 
of  language,  and  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  methods  of 
communicating  thought.  Words  have  no  inherent 
capacity  to  express  thought.  They  have  just  that 
meaning  which  usage  and  common  consent  have 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  149 

attached  to  them,  and  no  other.  Had  men  so  decided, 
there  is  no  reason  why  a  motion  of  the  finger  should 
not  have  signified  the  flesh  of  cattle,  as  well  as  the 
word  beef  Indeed,  one  part  of  our  fellow-creatures 
are  entirely  dependent  upon  signs  for  the  communica- 
tion of  their  thoughts.  Every  person,  too,  has  heard 
of  the  theatrical  entertainment  called  pantomime,  in 
which  the  whole  plot  and  intention  of  the  piece  is 
mifolded  by  gesticulation,  without  the  use  of  words. 
And,  indeed,  the  popularity  of  all  dramatic  perform- 
ances depends  more  upon  drapery  and  action,  than 
upon  the  words  repeated.  Even  children  understand 
the  philosophy  of  signs,  as  every  teacher  of  youth  can 
testify,  who  has  had  his  best  efforts  for  order  defeated 
by  electric  communications  across  the  schoolroom. 
Near  the  beginning  of  our  service,  the  minister  rises 
up,  and  by  his  "  outward  gesture"  and  manner  repre- 
sents an  exercise  of  an  alleged  absolving  power ;  and 
actions  are  so  well  understood  to  have  a  rnsaning,  as 
well  as  words,  that,  although  there  is  really  no  abso- 
lution pronounced,  the  people  have,  for  two  hundred 
years,  let  it  pass  as  a  regular  absolution. 

Preparatory  to  a  fair  appreciation  of  the  following 
line  of  argument,  the  reader  is  requested  to  observe 
that  several  of  the  usages  which  fall  under  these  two 
branches  of  the  subject  would  not,  perhaps,  if  consid- 
ered singly  and  alone,  be  particularly  worthy  of  repre- 
hension. It  is  only  when  viewed  in  connection  with 
each  other,  and  as  having  a  consentient  voice  and  aim, 
that  they  become  dangerous  whisperers  of  Roman 
falsehood  in  the  ears  of  the  people.  It  will  be,  there- 
fore, an  act  of  egregious  unfairness,  when  I  broach  one 
of  the  least  important  of  these  usages,  to  turn  upon  me, 
and  say  I  am  magnifying  trifles.  They  might  be 
trifles  considered  alone ;  but  a  multiplication  of  just 
13* 


150  USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE. 

such  trifles  constitutes  the  paraphernalia  of  tractarian- 
ism,  and  their  further  multiplication  completes  the 
drapery  of  Romanism  itself.  A  comma,  standing 
alone  on  a  plain  sheet  of  paper,  is  a  thing  of  very  little 
significance ;  but  place  it  in  a  row  of  figures,  in  the 
arrangement  of  units  and  decimals,  and  it  becomes  a 
character  of  very  great  importance. 

Desks  and  Pulpits. 

Nearly  all  the  usages  which  imply  and  teach  false 
doctrine  bear  with  more  or  less  directness  upon  the 
nature  and  efficacy  of  the  sacraments,  or  upon  the 
office  and  powers  of  the  ministry.  On  these  two. 
points  especially,  the  sacraments  and  the  ministry,  the 
English  reformers  failed  to  rid  themselves  of  papal 
error.  The  separation  of  the  pulpit  and  the  desk  ;  the 
instructing  the  people  from  one,  and  the  offering  the 
prayers  from  the  other,  is  of  itself  strongly  presump- 
tive evidence  that  they  retained  erroneous  notions  of 
the  ministerial  character.  Why  does  not  the  minister 
pray  and  preach  from  the  same  desk  or  pulpit  ?  Does 
God  hear  him  better  from  the  desk,  and  the  people 
catch  the  sound  of  his  voice  more  perfectly  from  the 
pulpit?  Is  this  mode  more  convenient  than  Avorship- 
ping  and  teaching  in  one  and  the  same  place  ?  Not  at 
all.  The  reason  lies  deeper  than  either  of  these  con- 
siderations. As  our  reformers  held  wrong  notions  of 
the  sacraments,  so  they  entertained  erroneous  opinions 
of  the  ministry.  When  our  ritual  was  arranged,  they 
had  not  abandoned  the  idea  of  a  priesthood  in  the 
church  of  God,  —  a  class  of  men  not  only  authorized 
to  teach  the  people,  but  to  offer  sacrifices  to  Jehovah, 
and  especially  to  be  the  medium  of  offering  to  God  the 
sacrifice  of  the  people's  prayers  and  praises.  They 
regarded  the  clergy  as  a  kind  of  mediators  between 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  151 

God  and  men ;  in  other  words,  they  beheved  in  what 
bishop  Whittingham  calls  a  "ministerial  intervention 
for  the  forgiveness  of  sin."  They  looked  upon  the 
clergy  as  having  a  double  office  to  perform, — that  of 
teaching  the  people,  and  of  offering  to  God  sacrifices 
in  their  behalf  And  one  of  the  most  natural  modes 
of  expressing  this  double  idea,  was  the  double  arrange- 
ment of  the  clergyman's  arena  of  public  duty.  Hav- 
ing oftered  the  prayers  of  the  people  as  a  priest,  it  was 
natural  that  he  should  take  another  position  from 
which  to  instruct  them  as  a  teacher.  This  double 
character  of  the  ministry; — its  character  as  a  body  of 
.teachers,  which  is  scriptural  and  consequently  true, 
and  its  character  as  a  body  of  sacrificers,  which  is 
unscriptural  and  consequently  false; — is  not  only  sug- 
gested, but,  to  a  philosophical  mind,  plainly  implied, 
in  praying  in  the  desk  and  preaching  in  the  pulpit. 

The  Surplice. 

But  not  to  rest  so  grave  a  charge  on  a  single  fact, 
however  well  it  might  sustain  it,  I  urge  that  the  idea 
of  a  christian  priesthood  is  still  further  implied  and 
taught  by  wearing  the  surplice.  The  minister  not 
only  gives  a  significant  intimation  of  his  double  char- 
acter of  priest  and  prophet,  by  praying  in  the  desk  and 
preaching  in  the  pulpit,  but  he  illustrates  and  enforces 
the  idea  still  further,  by  appearing  in  these  two  places 
in  different  dresses.  White  adorns  him  in  the  desk,  in 
token  that  he  shall  offer  to  God  for  the  people  a  pure 
sacrifice.  The  black  gown  covers  him  in  the  pulpit,  it 
being  the  badge  of  a  professional  teacher.  It  might 
possibly  be  said,  with  some  show  of  plausibility,  that  it 
is  inferring  a  little  too  much  to  draw  the  false  doctrine 
of  which  I  speak  out  of  a  mere  preaching  and  praying 
in  different  places,  provided  this  were  a  solitary  fact 


152  USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTKINE. 


Standing  alone;  but  when,  in  addition  to  this,  the 
preacher  appears  in  the  pulpit  with  the  scholastic 
gown,  plainly  indicative  of  his  character  as  a  teacher, 
and  in  the  desk  and  at  the  communion  table  decked 
with  a  white  linen  surplice,  resembling,  intentionally, 
the  white  linen  ephod  of  the  Jewish  ])riest,  there  can 
be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  he  is  supposed  to  possess 
not  merely  the  character  of  a  teacher,  but  that  of  a 
priest.  At  all  events,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
intention  of  the  compilers  of  our  ritual,  the  change  of 
place  in  performing  the  different  parts  of  clerical  duty, 
and  the  corresponding  change  of  dress,  do  necessarily, 
to  a  philosophical  mind,  convey  such  an  idea ;  and,  in 
searching  for  the  causes  which  produce  sacramentari- 
anism, —  called  at  the  present  time  Puseyism, — I  may 
safely  charge  these  usages  as  being  fruitful  sources  of 
wrong  ideas  in  regard  to  the  ministry.  When  the 
tendency  is  towards  a  sacramental  theology,  of  which 
a  priesthood  is  an  essential  element,  it  is  plain  that 
these  usages  must  have  their  due  influence  in  creating 
the  doctrine  of  a  priesthood.* 

*  Aside  from  the  false  teaching  growing  out  af  the  use  of  the  sur- 
plice, a  well-grounded  objection  has  often  been  urged  to  a  change  from 
one  vestment  to  another  durmg  divine  service.  I  would  not  press  un- 
important thmgs  ;  but  I  frankly  confess  it  has  always  appeared  to  me 
a  frivolous  trilling  with  God's  worship,  for  him  who  conducts  it  to 
break  its  order  and  solemnity,  by  retiring,  like  a  stage  performer,  to 
an  adjoining  room,  to  change  his  vestment  from  white  to  black.  At 
the  moment  when  the  minister's  thoughts  should  be  lifted  into  com- 
munion with  the  highest  and  holiest  contemplations,  when  the  big  and 
overpowering  convictions  of  his  responsibilities  should  be  pressing, 
like  mountains,  upon  his  soul,  what  solemn  mockery  to  send  him  away 
into  a  lobby  on  the  trifling  and  childish  errand  of  getting  a  robe  of 
another  color  to  show  the  congregation!  Singing  is  a  part  of  the 
worship  of  God's  house  ;  and  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  the  minister  can 
with  propriety  absent  himself  for  the  purpose  of  readjusting  his  per- 
sonal habiliments,  while  the  congregation  engages  in  it.  As  well 
might  the  people,  while  he  otfers  prayer,  retire  to  brush  their  hair  and 
arrange  their  cravats,  that  they  might  present  to  the  eyes  of  each 
other  a  sleek  and  comely  appearance.  As  things  now  are,  the  usual 
invitation  —  "Let  us  worship  God  by  singing,"  &c.,  should  be 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  153 

I  speak  with  the  more  freedom  on  this  point, 
because  I  know  I  am  not  singular  in  regarding  the 
surpUce  as  a  symbohcal  garment.  It  is  so  considered 
by  all  Episcopalian  writers,  who  have  published  any- 
thing of  consequence  on  the  subject.  It  has  ncf  apol- 
ogist or  defender  who  does  not  regard  it  as  designed 
and  fitted  to  teach  something  symbolically.  But  what 
is  it  generally  supposed  to  teach  ?-  This  is  the  ques- 
tion ;  and  perhaps  no  man  is  better  able  to  answer  it 
than  the  learned  Dr.  Hopkins,  the  bishop  of  the  protes- 
tant  Episcopal  church  in  the  diocese  of  Vermont.  In 
his  work  on  the  primitive  church,  having  stated  the 
reason  for  wearing  the  black  dress  in  the  pulpit,  he 
says : 

"The  office  appropriated  to  the  desk,  the  font,  and 
the  altar,  are  of  a  different  character  ;  for  they  are 
addressed  not  so  inuch  to  men,  as  to  Uod.  To  .him 
we  lift  the  voice  of  prayer,  to  him  we  raise  the  chant 
of  praise,  to  him  we  offer  the  consecrated  elements, 
and  with  them  present  our  souls  and  bodies  in  the 
eucharist.  And,  therefore^  the  putting  on  a  white  gar- 
ment as  a  preparation  for  these  acts  of  worship,  is 
intended  to  remind  us  of  many  interesting  and  affect- 
ing points  in  the  character  of  our  holy  religion."* 

changed  into  "You  will  please  to  worship  God,"  &c.,  as  the  minster 
has  but  very  little  to  do  with  it,  being  engaged  in  the  very  important 
business  of  changing  his  gowns  ! 

Another  strange  incongruity  is  that  of  the  minister's  kneeling,  on 
his  return  from  the  vestry,  to  offer  silent  prayer,  while  the  congrega- 
tion is  singing.  Whether  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  apostle's  injunc- 
tion, "  Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order,"  to  have  the  peo- 
ple engaged  in  one  part  of  worship,  and  the  minister  in  another  at  the 
same  time,  might  safely  be  left  to  the  decision  of  the  most  ordinary 
common  sense.  Certain  it  is,  there  is  no  mind  which  would  not  in- 
stinctively shrink  from  the  impropriety,  had  it  not  previously  been 
accustomed  to  the  grosser  incongruity  of  an  absence  from  a  part  of 
worship  for  a  cliange  of  dress. 

*  Page  160. 


154  USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE. 

The  bishop  then  goes  on  and  states  what  it  is  intended 
to  call  to  mind. 

"It  reminds  us,"  he  says,  "of  the  robe  of  Christ's 
righteousness,  the  wedding  garment  of  the  Lamb  of 
God,-in  which  we  must  appear  in  the  great  day,  if  we 
would  obtain  justification  before  the  eternal  throne." 

"  It  reminds  us  that  the  cleansing  and  purifying  of 
the  sinner  depends  on  the  blessed  sacrifice  of  the 
atonement." 

"It  reminds  us  of  the  future  glory  of  the  re- 
deemed." 

"It  reminds  us,  lastly,  of  the  frame  of  heart  with 
which  we  should  approach  the  majesty  of  the  eternai 
Sovereign.  As  black  clothing  is  an  expressive  emblem 
of  mourning  and  grief,  so  white  clothing  is  an  emblem 
of  purity  and  joy.  And  what  purity  should  he  attain 
who  is  allowed  to  enter  into  the  sanctuary  of  the  God 
of  holiness — what  solemn  joy  should  he  feel  who  is 
permitted  to  offer,  before  the  King  of  heaven,  an 
acceptable  sacrifice  of  prayer  and  praise!'' 

These  statements  suggest  some  interesting  thoughts. 
The  first  reason  assigned  for  wearing  the  surplice  is, 
that  the  minister  is,  in  the  discharge  of  this  part  of  his 
duty,  engaged  in  addressing  God,  and  not  men.  So 
are  the  people,  in  this  part  of  the  service,  engaged  also 
in  addressing  God ;  should  they  likewise  be  clad  in  a 
white  linen  surplice?  Certainly  they  should,  if  the 
mere  fact  of  addressing  God,  and  not  men,  were  a 
sufficient  reason  for  wearing  it.  "  To  him,"  says 
bishop  Hopkins,  "  we  lift  the  voice  of  prayer."  So  do 
the  people.  "  To  him  we  raise  the  chant  of  praise." 
The  people  do  the  same.  "  To  him  we  dedicate  the 
convert  in  baptism."  Ah,  here  is  the  difference.  The 
dedicating  of  the  convert's  soul  and  body  to  God,  as  a 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  155 

living  sacrifice,  is  made  by  the  priest*  "  To  him  we 
offer  the  consecrated  elements."  Here  is  another  sac- 
rificial act,  which  the  people  may  not  perform.  So 
far,  then,  bishop  Hopkins'  reasons  for  wearing  the 
surplice  go  to  show  that  the  minister  wears  it  as  a 
badge  of  his  priestly  character.  And  how  it  can 
remind  one  of  the  "robe  of  Christ's  righteousness," 
and  "  that  the  cleansing  and  purifying  of  the  sinner 
depends  on  this  blessed  sacrifice  of  the  atonement,"  it 
is  not  easy  to  see,  unless  it  naturally  associates  with 
itself  the  sacrificial  idea.  As  white  is  appropriately 
symbolical  of  "joy,"  bishop  Hopkins  thinks  the  min- 
ister should  wear  it  in  token  of  joy  at  bemg  permitted 
to  offer  to  the  "  King  of  heaven  an  acceptable  sacri- 
fice of  prayer  and  praise."  We  must,  then,  infer  one 
of  two  things ;  either  that  the  people  ought  to  wear  it, 
or  that  they  do  not  offer  the  sacrifice  of  prayer  and 
praise.  As  the  friends  of  the  surplice  will  not  pretend 
that  it  ought  to  be  worn  by  the  people,  of  course  they 
must  conclude  that  all  their  prayers  and  praises  are 
offered  by  the  priest,  and  offered,  too,  in  his  priestly 
character,  so  strikingly  symbolized  by  his  white  Imen 
surplice.  And,  indeed,  this  is  only  a  consistent  carry- 
ing out  of  a  principle  announced  a  little  before;  for  if 
the  priest  may  dedicate  to  God  the  convert,  in  baptism, 
he  may  surely  be  the  medium  of  offering  the  sacrifice 
of  his  prayers  and  praises. 

*  By  looking  at  Rom.  xii.  1,  the  reader  will  see  that  St.  Paul  directs 
that  men  should  themselves  present  their  souls  and  bodies  to  God.  He 
seems  to  have  had  no  idea  that  a  mediating  priest  was  necessary  to 
offer  them  to  God.  God  requires  men  to  come  directly  to  him. 
"Give  me  thy  heart,"  is  his  language  —  not,  give  it  to  the  priest,  that 
he  may  give  it  to  me.  Religion  is  a  personal  matter.  God  must  be 
approached  directly  by  every  man  for  himself.  The  only  mediation 
to  be  thought  of  is  that  of  Jesus,  our  great  High  Priest,  who  has 
passed  into  the  heavens.  And  yet  all  the  arrangements  of  our  ritual 
which  bear  on  this  question  of  the  ministry  and  the  sacraments,  in- 
volve more  or  less  clearly  the  idea  of  a  ministerial  intervention. 


156  USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTKINE, 


Giving  the  Bread. 

The  Roman  Catholic  priest  puts  the  wafer  into  the 
mouth  of  the  communicant.  This  indicates  the  depend- 
ence of  the  latter  upon  the  former,  for  an  instrumental 
or  mediatorial  conveyance  of  grace.  The  minister,  in 
our  denomination,  imitating  in  part  the  Roman  priest, 
takes  the  piece  of  bread,  and  places  it  in  the  hand  of 
the  communicant.  I  object  to  this,  on  the  ground  that 
it  implies  a  ministerial  power  to  impart  grace.  It  sug- 
gests the  idea  that  the  clergyman  has  something  to 
give,  and  the  communicant  something  to  receive  from 
him*  It  obtrudes  upon  the  observing  mind  the  oft- 
recurring  idea  of  a  "  ministerial  invention."  The 
communicants  go  to  the  table  of  their  Lord,  to  feed,  not 
to  be  fed  by  the  priest ;  to  take  the  bread  of  life  for 
themselves,  not  to  have  it  given  to  them  by  another 
mortal.  Anything  is  exceptionable,  however  appa- 
rently trifling,  which  helps  to  place  the  ministry 
between  God  and  the  soul,  or  which  in  any  way 
.obscures  the  idea  of  a  direct  communication  with  the 
Father  of  spirits.  The  act  of  taking  a  single  piece  of 
bread,  and  placing  it  in  the  hand  of  each  communi- 
cant, viewed  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  the  bread 
has  been  previously  consecrated  and  made  "holy," 
and  also  with  the  fact  that  it  has  to  be  done  at  the 
expense  of  what,  on  other  occasions,  would  be  consid- 
ered the  plainest  requirements  of  politeness,  (for  what 
gentleman,  at  an  ordinary  meal,  would  think  of  put- 
ting a  piece  of  bread  into  the  hand  of  another  7)  is  cer- 
tainly fitted  to  suggest  a  false  idea ;  and  who  does  not 
know  that  the  mind  often  receives  and  settles  down 

*  It  will  perhaps  be  objected  that  Christ,  having  broken  the  bread, 
gave  it  to  his  disciples ;  but  I  ask  if  the  ordinary  method  of  passing 
bread  does  not  answer  to  this  account  as  well  ? 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  157 

upon  principles  which  it  learns  only  through  sugges- 
tions. Satan  seldom  broaches  a  falsehood  in  a  direct 
and  open  manner.  If  he  can  keep  the  mind  quiet,  and 
familiarize  it  to  the  repeated  suggestion  of  what  is  un- 
true, he  is  well  contented  to  bide  his  time,  and  wait 
for  the  issue. 

Arrangement  of  Chancels. 

A  priesthood  would  be  an  anomaly  without  an  altar. 
Hence,  our  reformers  have  not  preserved  one  without 
the  other.  The  implied-  idea  of  an  altar,  so  plainly  pre- 
served in  our  ritual,  seems  for  some  time  to  have  slept. 
Recently,  however,  it  has  come  out  with  new  promi- 
nence ;  and  has  found  a  mute  but  emphatic  expression, 
in  the  modern  arrangement  of  chancels. 

It  has  become  quite  common  to  put  the  pulpit  at 
one  end  of  the  chancel,  or  near  the  corner  of  the  church, 
and  the  reading  desk  at  the  other.*  The  design  of 
this  seems  to  be  to  make  room  for  the  altar.  When- 
ever a  thing  increases  in  magnitude  and  iVnportance,  it 
always  wants  more  room.  A  mere  communion-table 
is  well  enough  accommodated  in  front  of  the  reading- 
desk,  or  even  behind  the  pulpit  against  the  wall.  -It  is 
a  very  unambitious,  and  consequently  unostentatious 
thing.  It  is  contented  with  the  most  obscure  position, 
and  is  satisfied,  even  if  not  seen  at  all.  But  the  mo- 
ment it  becomes  an  altar,  on  which  a  sacrifice  is  offered, 
it  ceases  to  be  unassuming,  and  claims  to  be  the  most 
important  thing  in  the  church.    Then  it  becomes  the 

*  By  this  arrangement,  the  minister  is  made  to  address  his  congre- 
gation diagonally,  or  obliquely ;  and  it  is  a  fact  which  ought  to  excite 
no  surprise,  that  where  this  practice  is  adopted,  the  style  of  presenting 
christian  doctrine  often  becomes  similarly  diagonal  and  oblique.  For 
when  there  is  a  desire  to  make  the  pulpit  and  the  desk  stand  out  of 
the  way  of  the  altar,  it  is  not  singular  that  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith  only  should  begin  to  give  place  to  an  alleged  inherent  and 
sacramental  righteousness. 

14 


158  USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE. 


particular  spot  where  God  appears  to  meet  his  people, 
and  where  an  unbloody  sacrifice  is  offered  for  their 
sins.  Then  it  is  the  visible  shechinah,  the  local  dwell- 
ing-place of  the  Deity.  Then  it  can  admit  of  no  ob- 
scuration. It  must  stand  in  open  view  of  the  whole 
congregation.  Pulpits  and  reading-desks  must  meekly 
retire,  and  be  content  to  stand,  each  in  a  corner,  against 
the  wall. 

If  this  is  not  in  substance  the  meaning  of  such  an 
arrangement  of  desks  and  pulpits,  I  must  plead  igno- 
rance of  what  it  does  mean.  It  certainly  has  the  ap- 
j)earance  of  an  attempt  to  give  prominence  and  sacred- 
ness  to  the  table  of  the  Lord.  The  pulpit  and  desk 
seem  to  be  taken  out  of  the  way  that  they  may  not 
overshadow  or  obscure  this  intentionally  prominent 
object. 

Praying  towards  the  Table. 

That  part  of  our  service  called  morning  prayer,  the 
minister  performs  in  the  reading-desk.  At  the  close  of 
this  he  usually  comes  out  and  reads  the  ante-commun- 
ion service  at  the  right-hand  side  of  the  communion- 
table. I  observe  that  the  great  majority  of  our  clergy, 
— the  evangelical  men  as  well  as  the  high  churchmen, 
— stand  with  their  faces  to  the  people  when  reading 
the  commandments,  the  gospel  and  epistle,  and  the 
psalms  and  hymns ;  but  turn  their  faces  directly  to  the 
communion-table  during  the  offering  of  each  prayer, 
though  they  often  stand  while  offering  it,  and  are  not 
obliged  to  turn  for  the  convenience  of  kneeling.  Now 
there  is  of  course  some  reason  for  this.  It  is  an  act  too 
singular  in  its  character  not  to  mean  something. 
When  a  minister  has  read  the  commandments  with 
his  face  to  the  people,  he  certainly  would  not  whirl 
suddenly  round  to  the  table  to  offer  a  prayer  of  six 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  159 

lines  in  length,  unless  there  was  some  special  reason 
for  it.  If  the  table  be  a  simple  table,  and  no  more  holy 
than  any  other  part  of  the  church,  this  would  certainly 
be  a  very  meaningless  change  of  position;  but  if  it  be 
an  altar,  a  holy  thing,  a  thing  from  whose  awe-inspir- 
ing presence  the  pulpit  and  the  reading-desk  must  re- 
tire into  opposite  corners ;  if  it  be  the  shechinah  of  the 
christian  church,  the  place  where  God  is  locally  pres- 
ent ;  then  we  see  at  once  why  prayer  must  be  offered 
in  that  direction.  If  the  altar  be  the  place  where  God 
is  specially  present,  then  there  is  the  place  to  address 
him;  if  he  be  everywhere  alike  "in  his  holy  temple," 
then  one  would  suppose  the  minister  might  as  well 
address  him  with  his  face  towards  the  congregation  as 
towards  the  table.  And,  however  unconscious  clergy- 
men may  be  of  the  fact,  I  venture,  the  opinion  that 
those  who  practise  this  significant  change  of  position 
arc  generally  prompted  to  it  by  a  real,  though,  per- 
haps, unconfessed  feeling  of  reverence  for  the  "holy 
table," — some  hidden  (hidden,  perhaps,  from  them- 
selves) apprehension  of  God's  peculiarly  mysterious 
manifestation  there.* 

Kneeling  at  the  Communion. 

■  It  has  never  been  doubted,  I  believe,  that  at  the  in- 
stitution of  the  supper,  our  Saviour  and  his  disciples 
reclined  at  the  table  in  the  same  manner  as  when 

*  My  readers  will  many  of  them  remember  how  much  was  said  in 
the  Episcopal  papers  respecting  the  Rev.  Mr.  Croswell,  when  he 
started  the  new  church  of  the  Advent  in  this  city,  and  read  the  psalter 
and  offered  the  prayers  with  his  back  to  the  people.  In  principle  the 
turning  to  the  table,  in  the  manner  spoken  of  above,  is  precisely  the 
same  with  Mr.  Croswell's  practice.  This  has  been  suggested  by  Mr. 
Croswell's  friends,  and  I  have  heard  it  scouted  at  as  though  it  were 
not  worthy  of  notice  ;  btit  those  who  treat  it  thus  scornfully  would  be 
sadly  puzzled  to  answer  it  —  nor  do  I  believe  they  would  like  to  un- 
dertake to  show  a  dilference  before  a  discriminating  public. 


160  USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE. 

taking  a  common  meal.  It  is  scriptural,  then,  to  take 
this  sacrament  in  the  same  position  in  which  we  re- 
ceive our  meals. 

But  the  Roman  church  teaches  her  people  that  the 
bread  and  wine,  upon  the  pronouncing  of  the  consecra- 
tion prayer  by  the  priest,  are  changed  into  the  real 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  that  a  whole  Christ, — 
including  body,  soul,  and  divinity, — is  present  under 
the  outward  form  of  bread  and  wine ;  and  hence  she 
teaches  them,  still  further,  that  this  Christ  ought  to  be 
worshipped,  and  that  kneeling,  in  token  of  adoration, 
is  the  proper  position  in  which  to  receive  the  sacra- 
ment. 

So  necessarily  does  this  act  of  kneeling  indicate  wor- 
ship of  the  elements,  or  rather  of  the  Christ  supposed 
to  be  concealed  under  the  elements,  that  the  earlier  re- 
formers thought  it  necessary  to  place  a  rubric  before 
the  communion  service,  declaring  that,  by  kneeling, 
' '  no  adoration  was  intended  to  any  corporal  presence 
of  Christ's  natural  flesh  and  blood."  This  rubric  Avas 
subsequently  left  out,  with  the  view,  bishop  Burnet 
says,  of  letting  the  question  of  Christ's  corporal  pres- 
ence lie  open,  as  an  unsettled  question.  The  rubric 
was  afterwards  inserted  again  in  the  English  prayer- 
book,  but  it  is  not  in  ours. 

It  is  very  evident  that  a  person  may  kneel  to  receive 
the  communion  without  intending  or  feeling  any  hom- 
age towards  the  elements ;  and  of  course  in  the  breast 
of  all  true  protestants  there  is  an  absence  of  such  a 
feeling.  But  when  there  is  a  tendency  to  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  sacraments,  the  question  is,  whether  this 
reverential  mode  of  receiving  the  bread  and  wine  will 
not  help  on  the  tendency ;  and  whether  the  receiving 
of  them  in  the  usual  posture  of  taking  a  common  meal, 
after  the  example  of  our  Lord  and  his  apostles,  would 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  161 

not  of  itself  go  far  to  jtrevent  any  idea  of  a  change  in 
them,  by  preventing  the  exercise  of  reverential  feel- 
ings towards  them.  I  think  a  true  philosophy  will  not 
be  long  in  deciding  this  question.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  feelings  appropriate  to  be  excited  at  the  communion 
table  are  joy  and  gratitude,  not  reverence  and  adora- 
tion. We  go  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  not  reverentially 
to  worship,  but  joyfully  to  commemorate  the  glorious 
work  which  Christ  has  done  for  us.  The  feeling  of 
reverence  does  not  appear  to  be  the  one  which  the  oc- 
casion is  intended  te  excite.  The  reverential  posture 
would  appear,  therefore,  to  be  inappropriate.  A  kneel- 
ing to  take  the  elements  certainly  implies  a  reverential 
feeling  towards  them.* 

Consecrations. 

When  describing  the  manner  in  which  the  English 
reformers  set  themselves  to  purge  out  the  superstitious 
practices  of  the  church,  bishop  Burnet  f  says: 

"  In  the  search  of  the  former  offices,  they  found  an  in- 
finite deal  of  superstition  in  the  consecrations  of  water, 
salt,  bread,  incense,  candles,  fire,  bells,  churches,  im- 
ages, altars,  crosses,  vessels,  garments,  palms,  flowers ; 
all  looked  like  the  rites  of  heathenism,  and  seemed  to 
spring  from  the  same  fountain.  Wlien  the  water  or  salt 
Avere  blessed,  it  was^xpressed  to  be  to  this  end,  that  they 
might  be  health  both  to  soul  and  body;  and  devils,  who 
might  Avell  laugh  at  these  tricks  which  they  had  taught 
them,  were  abjured  not  to  come  to  any  place  where 
they  were  sprinkled ;  and  the  holy  bread  was  blessed, 

*  One  would  suppose  that  the  example  of  Christ  and  his  apostles 
would  be  sufficient  to  condemn  the  practice  of  kneeling,  without  any- 
reasoning  to  show  its  evil  tendency.  Alas  !  as  this  example  does  not 
avail  to  correct  the  error,  I  fear  my  argument  will  stand  but  little 
chance  of  producing  conviction. 

t  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  117. 

14* 


162  USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE. 

to  be  a  defence  against  all  diseases  and  snares  of  the 
devil ;  and  the  holy  incense,  that  devils  might  not 
come  near  the  smoke  of  it,  but  that  all  who  smelled  at 
it  might  perceiv  ;  the  virtue  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  and 
the  ashes  were  blessed,  so  that  all  who  were  covered 
with  them  might  deserve  to  obtain  the  remission  of 
their  sins.  All  these  things  had  drawn  the  people  to 
such  confidence  in  them,  that  they  generally  thought 
without  those  harder  terms  of  true  hohness,  they  might, 
upon  such  superstitious  observances,  be  sure  of  heaven. 
So  all  these  they  resolved  to  cast  out  as  things  which 
had  no  warrant  in  scripture,  and  were  vain  devices  to 
draw  men  from  a  lively  application  to  God  through 
Christ,  according  to  the  method  of  the  gospel." 

It  has  been  already  proved  that  the  reformers  enter- 
tained a  commendable  resolution  to  dismiss  all  need- 
less ceremonies,  as  here  stated  by  Burnet,  but  that  they 
were  hindered  by  Elizabeth  from  completing  the  work. 
The  most  of  these  extremely  superstitious  consecrations 
they  did  indeed  put  away;  but  they  did  not  go  to  the 
extent  of  banishing  all  that  were  unscriptural.  Con- 
secrating the  baptismal  water,  we  have  already  said, 
has  no  warrant  in  the  Bible.  Consecrating  the  bread 
and  wine  has  as  little.  "When  the  water  or  salt  were 
blessed,"  says  Burnet  "it  was  expressed  to  be  to  this 
end,  that  they  might  be  health  botlrto  soul  and  body;" 
and  is  not  the  water  said,  in  our  baptismal  service,  to 
be  sanctified  that  it  may  mystically  wash  away  sin  ? 
and  are  not  the  bread  and  wine  said  to  be  consecrated, 
"//m^"  we,  by  receiving  them,  may  receive  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  ?  So  far  as  the  blessing,  the  con- 
secrating, or  the  sanctifying  are  concerned,  we  have 
certainly  retained  the  essence  of  the  Roman  super- 
stition,— a  superstition  which,  Burnet  says,  is  not 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  163 

merely  the  offspring  of  heathenism,  but  which  retains 
the  marks  and  evidences  of  its  paternity. 

Significant  Manipulations. 

The  heathen  origin  of  these  consecrations  appears 
more  evident  when  we  consider  the  gestures  and  ma- 
nipulations employed  in  connection  with  them.  Much 
of  the  significance  of  heathen  rites  is  made  to  consist 
in  gesticulation.  So,  in  performing  our  baptismal  ser- 
vice, many  of  our  ministers  are  in  the  habit  of  spread- 
ing their  hands  over  the  water,  and  some  dip  them  into 
it  when  they  invoke  the  sanctification  which  is  to  fit  it 
for  washing  away  sin.  And  in  the  communion  ser- 
vice, while  reciting  the  account  of  the  institution,  the 
direction  for  the  minister  is,  "  Here  the  priest  is  to  take 
the  paten  into  his  hands."  "And  here  to  break  the 
bread."  "And  here  to  lay  his  hands  upon  all  the 
bread."  "  Here  he  is  to  take  the  cup  into  his  hands." 
"  And  here  he  is  to  lay  his  hands  upon  every  vessel  in 
which  there  is  any  wine  to  be  consecrated."  Thus  it 
is  all  acted  out,  as  if  the  precious  gifts  of  the  Spirit, 
almost  impiously  supposed  to  be  called  down  upon  the 
elements,  were  distilled  from  the  ends  of  his  fingers. 
Who  is  so  little  acquainted  with  the  philosophy  of 
signs  as  not  to  know  that  such  gestures  have  all  the 
force  of  the  most  explicit  words ;  that  they  are  too  full 
of  meaning  to  find  any  verbal  utterance?  Who  does 
not  see  that  our  baptismal  service  and  communion  ser- 
vice,— especially  the  latter, — are  highly  dramatic? 
that  they  talk  to  the  eye  as  well  as  to  the  ear  ?  that 
they  have  intelligible  signs  as  well  as  explicit  words  ? 
that  they  speak  the  language  of  the  deaf  mute  as  well 
as  that  of  the  hearing  and  talking  man?  that  they  pre- 
sent the  expressive  pantomime  to  the  eye  as  well  as 
the  clear  recitation  to  the  ear^ 


164  USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE. 
Eating  and  Drinking  what  remain. 

Our  communion  office  closes  with  this  rubric  :  "  And 
if  any  of  the  consecrated  bread  and  wine  remain  after 
the  communion,  it  shall  not  be  carried  out  of  the 
church ;  but  the  minister  and  other  communicants 
shall,  immediately  after  the  blessing,  reverently  eat 
and  drink  the  same." 

Let  it  be  observed  here  that  it  is  the  '■'■consecrated 
bread  and  wine"  only  which  are  not  to  be  carried  out 
of  the  church,  and  that  they  are  to  be  retained  and 
"  reiierenily''  eat  and  drank,  because  they  are  conse- 
crated.* What  is  the  meaning  of  this  ?  What  other 
meaning  can  it  have  than  this,  namely,  that  consecra- 
tion has  given  to  the  elements  a  holiness  which  must 
not  be  lost,  and  also  made  them  proper  objects  of  rev- 
erential feelings  7  They  are  to  be  reverently  eat  and 
drank.  But  why  reverently  1  Did  cur  Saviour  and 
the  apostles  eat  and  drink  them  reverently  7  If  so, 
then  the  five  thousand  must  have  eat  the  loaves  and 
fishes  reverently,  for  there  was  just  as  much  consecra- 
tion of  these  as  of  the  bread  and  wine.  In  truth,  there 
was  only  a  rendering  thanks  to  God  in  either  case. 
Why,  then,  the  question  returns,  forbid  that  they  shall 
be  carried  out  of  the  church,  and  why  command  that 
they  shall  be  eat  and  drank  reverently?  and  why, 
too,  I  may  add,  is  the  minister  required  '■'■reverently^' 
to  place  "what  remaineth  of  the  consecrated  elements" 
upon  the  table,  "covering  the  same  with  a  fine  linen 
cloth?" 

*  Let  the  reader  hold  fast  to  the  fact,  also,  that  there  is  nothing, 
absolutely  nothing,  in  the  New  Testament  which  sanctions  any  act 
of  consecration  of  the  elements  whatever;  and  that  this  practice 
comes  to  us  backed  by  no  higher  authority  than  it  can  derive  from  its 
heathen  origin,  and  a  transmission  through  the  Roman  Catholic 
church. 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  165 

Why,  but  because  some  mysterious  change  is  sup- 
posed to  be  wrought  in  them,  such  as  I  have  shown 
to  be  fairly  taught  in  the  writings  of  leading  English 
divines,  and  in  the  language  of  the  communion  office  1 
The  same  general  idea  is  implied  also  in  the  rubric 
which  requires  the  interruption  of  the  communion 
for  the  purpose  of  consecrating  more  bread  and  wine, 
if  they  chance  "to  be  spent  before  all  have  communi- 
cated." 

General  Aspect. 

We  have  been  viewing  the  particulars,  one  by  one, 
which  go  to  make  up  our  sacramental  system.  It  may 
be  well  now  to  group  them  together,  that  the  reader 
may  see  their  general  aspect. 

We  have  seen  that  the  leading  English  divines  be- 
lieved in  a  "  change,"  or  "mutation,"  effected  in  the 
elements  of  bread  and  wine  at  the  time  of  their  con- 
secration;  that  this  change  is  a  "spiritual"  one,  in 
opposition  to  the  Roman  notion  of  a  "carnal" 
change;  that  the  change  is  "real"  and  "true,"  and 
is  "  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ ;"  that,  in  con- 
sequence of  this  change,  they  "really  convey"  to  the 
believer  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  We  have 
seen,  too,  that  these  divines  believed  the  baptismal 
water  to  be  "changed  into  divine  power  by  the  work- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  so  as  to  "regenerate  him 
that  believeth."  We  have  found  our  communion 
office  teaching  the  same  sanctification  of  the  bread 
and  wine,  so  that  those  who  receive  them  become 
partakers  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ;  and  the 
baptismal  service  bringing  to  view  the  same  sanctifi- 
cation of  water  for  "the  mystical  washing  away  of 
sin."  We  have  found  our  catechism  interpreting 
the  whole  for  us  by  teaching  the  doctrine  of  iwo 


166  USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE. 

jmrls  in  a  sacrament, — making  the  sanctifying  grace 
ill  the  supper  and  the  spiritual  regeneration  in  bap- 
tism as  essential-  to  the  being  of  the  two  sacraments, 
as  the  outward  eating  and  drinking  and  the  outward 
washing.  The  ordination  office,  and  tlie  forms  of 
absolution,  have  unfolded  to  us  the  idea  of  is.  priest- 
hood,— endowed  with  power  to  offer  sacrifices  to  God, 
and  with  authority  to  declare  and  pronounce  absolu- 
tion from  sin. 

In  addition  to  this  positive  verbal  teaching,  we 
have  found  an  array  of  dramatic  arrangements  and 
representations,  pointing  in  the  same  general  direc- 
tion, and  distinctly  implying  the  same  errors.  There 
is,  first,  the  significant  preaching  and  praying  in  sep- 
arate places,  and  then  the  appearing  in  those  two 
places  in  different  habits,  —  both  indicative  of  the 
double  character  of  priest  and  prophet.  Then  there 
is  the  laying  the  priestly  hands  upon  the  elements, 
and  making  over  them  certain  gestures,  as  if  call- 
ing down  some  mysterious  spiritual  influence  upon 
them ;  then  the  kneeling  to  receive  them,  as  if  they 
were  objects  of  worship;  and  then,  finally,  the  "rev- 
erently" covering  them  with  a  fine  linen  cloth,  and 
the  eating  them  with  the  reverence  due  only  to 
what  has  been  "  changed'"  into  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ. 

If  any  person  mistakes  this  united  teaching  of 
words,  and  arrangements,  and  manipulations,  and 
postures,  I  can  only  say,  it  seems  to  me  a  very  need- 
less blunder.  It  does  appear  to  me  as  plain  as  the  sun 
at  noonday,  that  the  great  idea  of  sacramental  grace  is 
the  basis  and  substratum  of  all  these  outward  forms. 
Take  this  away,  and  they  are  as  meaningless  and  in- 
appropriate as  a  Mahomedan  crescent  carved  vipon  the 
front  of  a  christian  pulpit. 


USAGES  WHICH  IMPLY  AND  TEACH  FALSE  DOCTRINE.  167 

No  person,  I  think,  need  to  wonder  that  we  have 
"Puseyism"  m  our  church.  The  only  real  matter 
for  suprise  is  that  we  have  not  more.  Here  are  causes 
enough  for  all  the  tractarianism  we  have,  and  for  a 
vast  deal  more,  too,  unless  they  are  removed. 


168 


CHAPTER  II. 

USAGES  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS. 

There  is  another  class  of  usages  which,  though  not 
chargeable  with  teaching  or  directly  implying  errone- 
ous doctrine,  do  yet  engender  a  state  of  feeling  very 
nearly  allied,  at  least,  to  those  fostered  in  the  Roman 
church. 

I  claim  that  in  this  chapter  I  argue  on  a  principle  to 
a  certain  extent  admitted  in  our  own  church.  Bishop 
M'llvaine  very  properly,  as  I  believe,  refused  last  year 
to  consecrate  a  church  in  the  diocese  over  which  he 
presides,  because  a  piece  of  furniture  had  been  placed 
in  it  which  looked  like  a  Roman  Catholic  altar.  Now 
I  beg  to  know  what  possible  objection  there  could  be 
to  this  piece  of  furniture,  except  on  the  ground  that 
those  usages  which  resemble  Romish  usages  do  in  fact 
lead  to  Romish  feelings  first,  and  then  through  them 
to  Romish  doctrines'?  Why  should  a  table,  having 
the  shape  of  an  altar,  suggest  the  Romish  idea,  except 
it  be  because  it  looks  like  one,  has  the  Romish  aspect, 
and  therefore  impresses  the  mind  with  the  idea  of 
something  Romish  underneath  % 

To  the  philosophical  mind  there  may  be,  and  is,  a 
kind  of  ecclesiastical  physiognomy,  by  which  what  is 
outward  and  visible  determines  what  is  internal  and 
unseen ;  by  which  the  complexion,  the  aspect,  the  cast 
of  a  thing,  indicates  its  character.  If  we  meet  a  man 
in  the  street,  having  the  complexion  of  a  Spaniard,  we 
infer  that  Spanish  blood  probably  flows  in  his  veins. 
So,  when  a  stranger  enters  a  city,  and  passes  a  church 
with  a  cross  upon  it,  his  impression  is  that  it  is  Roman 


USAGKS  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS.  169 

Catholic ;  and  when  one  visits  the  cemetery  at  Mount 
Auburn,  and  sees  a  stone  embellished  with  the  same 
symbol,  he  takes  it  for  granted  that  a  Roman  Catholic 
sleeps  underneath.  He  may  be  wrong,  but  he  is  more 
likely  to  be  right.  Romanism  has  its  badges,  its 
marks,  its  symbols ;  and  these  are  parts  of  a  system, 
and  are  the  indices  of  principles  which  lie  out  of  sight. 
These  things  are  so  well  understood,  that  when  the 
outward  marks  are  adopted,  they  generally  react 
towards  the  principle.  Without  this,  they  are  instinc- 
tively felt  to  be  an  anomaly,  a  branch  without  a  trunk 
or  root.  And  when  they  are  forbidden  to  connect 
themselves  with  the  parent  root,  like  the  banian  tree, 
they  send  down  the  shoots  from  their  branches  to  the 
earth,  and  into  the  earth,  and  make  roots  for  them- 
selves, congenial  with  their  nature.  There  is,  there- 
fore, an  ecclesiastical  physiology  also,  by  which  out- 
ward parts  seek  nourishment  from  some  unseen  agency 
within. 

I  do  not  pretend  that  these  usages  necessarily  imply 
or  directly  teach  anything  doctrinally  false ;  but  I  do 
insist  that  they  induce  a  state  of  feeling  Avhich  gives 
erroneous  doctrine  a  welcome  reception,  and  in  which 
it  finds  a  nourishment  highly  favorable  to  its  growth. 
Among  the  usages  to  which  I  refer,  may  be  reckoned, 
in  the  first  place, 

The  Multiplication  of  Crosses. 

The  demand  for  a  symbolical  use  of  the  cross  has 
been  wonderfully  increased  of  late.  Let  any  man  run 
his  eye  over  the  Episcopal-  books  which  have  been 
published  within  a  dozen  years,  and  see  how  rapidly, 
during  the  last  six  or  seven  of  those  years,  the  picture 
of  the  cross  has  been  multiplied  upon  the  covers,  the 
title-pages,  and  indeed  upon  all  the  pages.  Ten  years 
15 


170  USAGES  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS. 


ago,  it  was  a  comparatively  rare  thing  to  stamp  a  cross 
upon  a  new  book.  What  has  produced  this  change  1 
Nothing,  of  course,  except  a  demand  for  such  pictures ; 
and  this  demand  is  helping,  —  unconsciously  on  the 
part  of  many  who  aid  it,  —  to  encourage  a  system 
which  exalts  trifles  into  great  importance,  and  con- 
structs a  sacramental  and  sensuous  religion  out  of 
forms.  As  an  illustration  of  this  growing  demand  for 
visible  crosses,  the  fact  may  be  mentioned,  that,  in 
three  of  the  older  Episcopal  churches  in  this  city,  the 
cross  is  not  seen,  Avhile  it  is  not  only  found  in  four  of 
those  more  recently  established,  but,  begirming  with 
Grace,  the  elder  of  the  four,  in  which  it  occupies  an 
unassuming  place  upon  the  shaft  of  the  baptismal  font, 
it  rises  rapidly  in  prominence,  according  to  the  age  of 
the  parish,  and  in  the  Advent,  the  younger  of  the  four, 
it  swells  to  such  dimensions,  and  puts  on  so  much  of 
the  glare  of  conspicuity,  as  to  have  offended  many  of 
those  who  have  helped  foster  the  taste  which  has  pro- 
duced it.* 

I  think  I  have  been  told  by  the  present  bishop  of  our 
church  in  this  state,  that  a  few  years  ago  there  was 
not  a  cross  in  an  Episcopal  church  in  New  York; 
now,  crosses  abound  in  them.  If  I  am  not  mistaken, 
the  same  gentleman  also  informed  me  that  when  he 
visited  England,  some  years  since,  he  did  not  see  a 
cross  in  any  church.    They  are  now  numerous. 

Sign  of  the  Cross  in  Baptism. 

As  has  been  already  stated,  a  paper  was  laid  before 
the  convocation  of  1562,  by  archbishop  Sandys,  advis- 

*  There  is  a  clergyman  in  the  diocese  of  Massachusetts  who  makes 
it  a  rule  never  to  purchase  a  book  which  has  the  picture  of  the  cross 
upon  it.  So  far,  I  honor  him  as  a  wise  man,  who  looks  to  the  bottom 
of  things,  and  lets  alone  error  before  it  is  meddled  with.  Would  to 
God  that  he  did  not  stop  with  the  symbol  of  the  cross  ! 


USAGES  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS.  171 


ing  that  her  majesty,  queen  Elizabeth,  be  moved  that 
"  the  collect  for  crossmg  the  mfant  in  the  forehead  be 
blotted  out,"  on  the  ground  that  "  it  seems  very  super- 
stitious" and  "is  not  needful."  We  all  knoAv  that 
this  is  practised  in  the  Roman  Catholic  church.  If  any 
possible  advantage  could  arise  from  the  practice,  or  if 
it  were  recommended,  or  even  hinted,  in  the  Scriptures, 
the  fact  of  its  being  used  in  the  papal  church  would 
not  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  omitting  it ;  but  when  we 
find  that  it  has  no  sanction  in  the  word  of  God,  and  is 
both  superstitious  and  needless,  and  is  one  of  the 
superstitions  of  the  Roman  church,  it^  does  seem  as 
though  a  marvellous  fondness  for  puerilities  could 
alone  prevent  its  rejection.* 

Besides  this  sign  of  the  cross  upon  the  child's  fore- 
head, tire  church  of  Rome  orders  that  the  priest's 
fingers  shall  be  put  into  its  ears,  as  a  sign  that  it  shall 
listen  to  the  word  of  truth.  Now  this,  in  my  appre- 
hension, is  quite  as  expressive  and  beautiful  a  token  as 
the  cross.  This  apostate  church  also  directs  that  salt 
shall  be  put  upon  its  tongue,  as  a  sign  that  its  conver- 
sation shall  be  always  with  grace.  This  I  regard  as  a 
more  expressive  token  than  the  sign  of  the  cross.  The 
chui'ch  of  Rome  furthermore  administers  milk  and 
honey,  in  token  that  it  shall  love  the  sincere  milk  of 
the  word,  and  keep  God's  commandments,  which  shall 
be  sweeter  to  it  than  honey  from  the  honeycomb. 
Now  these  are  all  very  expressive  and  beautiful  signs, 

*  The  arguments  used  in  support  of  this  ceremony  are  generally 
about  as  forcible  as  that  of  James  I.,  when  pressed  in  regard  to  it  by 
one  of  the  Presbyterian  divines,  in  the  Hampton  Court  conference. 
His  majesty  desired  to  be  informed  as  to  the  aiitiquiti/  of  its  use  ;  and 
when  told  by  the  bishop  of  Winchester  that  it  was  employed  in  the 
time  of  Constaatine  the  Great,  the  king  answered,  "  And  is  it  come  to 
that  pass,  that  we  must  charge  Constantine  with  superstition  and 
popery  ?  1/  it  was  used  so  early,  I  see  no  reason  why  it  may  not  be  con- 
tinued."— Collier's  Ecclesiastical  Hist.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  292. 


172  USAGES  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS. 

— not  a  whit  more  superstitious  than  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  and  quite  as  needful.  If  one  ought  to  be 
retained,  there  is  no  possible  reason  why  all  should 
not.  They  are  used  together  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
church ;  are  parts  of  a  great  system  of  superstition ; 
have  like  significance  and  intent ;  and  should  stand  or 
fall  together. 

Bowing  at  the  Name  of  Jesus. 

Of  all  the  childish  superstitions  which  our  church 
has  unfortunately  retained,  I  have  regarded  the  prac- 
tice of  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus  in  the  creed,  as 
founded  in  a  more  genuine  puerility  than  any  other. 
It  is  one  of  those  superstitions  which  are  exactly 
adapted  to  the  taste  of  a  genteel,  foppish  tractarian, 
who  is  an  amateur  in  all  that  relates  to  a  graceful 
observance  of  the  prescribed  forms  of  an  outside  reli- 
gion. To  see  such  bending  down  with  the  grace  of  a 
young  willow  coquetting  Avith  a  summer  breeze,  excites 
no  surprise.  But  who,  upon  seeing  a  strong,  Saxon- 
minded,  christian  man,  attempting  this  flexion  of  the 
body  in  the  midst  of  public  worship,  does  not  feel 
somewhat  as  he  would  to  see  the  forest  oak  attempt- 
ing to  imitate  the  playful  sports  of  the  young  wil- 
low]* 

This  bow  is  intended,  I  suppose,  as  a  mark  of 
respect  paid  to  Christ.  But  the  Scriptures  teach  us  to 
honor  the  Son  only  as  we  honor  the  Father.  To  pay 
him  higher  and  more  marked  honors  than  we  pay  the 
Father,  would  seem  to  be  making  an  invidious  dis- 
tinction between  the  persons  of  the  sacred  Trinity ;  for 

*  The  late  venerable  bishop  Griswold  regarded  this  practice  with  a 
great  deal  of  dissatisfaction.  He  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  it  as 
one  of  those  practices  which  commend  themselves  only  to  supersti- 
tious and  sickly  minds;  and  he  has  left  on  record  one  or  two  pithy, 
unanswerable  arguments  against  it. 


USAGES  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS.  173 


as  we  are  to  honor  the  Son  as  we  honor  the  Father,  so 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  ought  to  honor  the 
Father  as  we  honor  the  Son. 

It  is  said,  too,  that  at  times  of  denial  of  the  Divinity 
of  Christ,  this  bow  is  usefvd  as  a  significant  recognition 
of  his  supreme  Godhead,  and  of  his  right  to  our 
homage.  But  as  those  who  deny  the  Divinity  of 
Christ  deny  also  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
tlicre  would  seem  to  be  quite  as  much  need  of  bowing 
at  the  point  in  the  creed  where  the  third  person  in  the 
Trinity  is  named.  Besides,  if  the  Deity  of  the  Son  be 
dependent  for  support  upon  a  bow,  it  rests  on  a  basis 
far  other  than  I  had  supposed.  Were  I  a  Unitarian,  I 
would  thank  Episcopalians  for  the  implied  admission. 

The  Roman  Catholic  bows  whenever  the  name  of 
Jesus  is  repeated  either  in  the  worship  or  the  sermon. 
This  is  consistent.  EpiscopaUans,  if  they  bow  at  all, 
should  do  the  same. 

Of  the  same  character  with  bowing  is  the  standing 
while  the  gospel  is  read ;  an  act  by  which  particular 
honor  is  intended  to  be  paid  to  the  words  of  Christ. 
But  why  should  the  words  of  our  Saviour  be  more 
honored  than  the  words  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  spoken 
through  the  apostles  in  the  epistles?  And  why,  es- 
pecially, should  the  words  of  Christ  be  more  respected 
when  read  in  what  is  called  the  gospel,  than  when 
read  as  the  second  morning  lesson'^-  Can  anybody 
tell? 

Holy  Days. 

An  observance  of  days  which  do  not  relate  to  Christ 
is  one  of  those  parts  of  a  ceremonialism  which  has 
been  the  occasion  of  much  discontent  in  the  church  of 
England,  and  was,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  as  I  have 
15* 


1 74  USAGES  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS. 


already  stated,  saved  from  dismission  only  by  a  proxy 
vote. 

The  chief  objections  to  these  are,  that  they  strengthen 
a  regard  for  a  mere  ceremonialism,  and  draw  the  mind 
back  towards  that  bondage  which  the  relics  of  saints, 
and  all  the  attendant  superstitions,  so  long  imposed 
upon  it.  In  times  like  the  present,  it  would  be  no 
marvel  to  see  saint-worship  growing,  as  a  historical 
sequence,  out  of  the  observance  of  saints'  days.  The 
Roman  Catholic  calendar  is  burdened  with  about  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  names.  Compared  with  this, 
ours  may  seem  so  scanty  as  to  be  almost  unobjectiona- 
ble. But  we  must  remember  that  it  is  not  the  number 
of  names  in  the  calendar  which  establishes  the  princi- 
ple. The  observance  of  one  saint's  day  sanctions  the 
principle  and  opens  the  way  for  the  observance  of  any 
number.* 

*  Since  writing  this  chapter,  I  have  fallen  in,  as  already  men- 
tioned, with  a  full  English  edition  of  Isaac  Taylor's  able  and  learned 
work  entitled  "  Ancient  Christianity."  As  this  remarkably  eloquent 
writer  is  a  member  of  the  established  church  of  England,  I  shall 
avail  myself  of  his  strong  reasonings  and  facts,  to  enrich  my  book 
with  a  few  notes.  I  subjoin  here  the  remarks  with  which  he  closes 
his  criticisms  on  the  English  Church  Calendar.  It  is  but  fair  to  say 
that  the  English  Saints'  Calendar  is  more  full  than  oiirs,  and  is 
justly  exposed  to  more  serious  objections. 

"  Is  then  the  Calendar,  with  its  inauspicious  commemorations,  a 
matter  of  no  moment  ?  Are  the  many  objections  to  which,  unques- 
tionably, it  is  liable,  frivolous  ?  I  have  already  declared  my  belief 
that  the  subject,  unimportant  as  it  may  have  been  years  ago,  assumes, 
at  this  time,  a  serious  aspect ;  and  that  it  will  connect  itself  with  the 
great  course  of  events  now  in  progress.  Christendom,  as  every  one 
feels  and  sees,  is  hastening  on  towards  a  disruption,  more  signal,  and 
more  extensive  in  its  consequences,  than  any  that  has  heretofore  had 
place.  On  the  one  side  are  the  adherents  of  biblical  Christianity,  and 
on  the  other  those  of  whatever  is  human  in  religion  ;  the  first,  advan- 
taged by  no  visible  organization,  and  having  no  centre  of  union,  and 
guided  by  no  conclave  of  concerted  movement,  is  yet  every  day  drawing 
nearer,  part  to  part,  and  is  reaching  a  clearer  and  a  deeper  conviction 
at  once  of  that  substantial  unity  which  might  lead  them  to  a  state  of 
visible  combination  ;  and  is  also  discerning  more  distinctly  the  com- 
mon danger  which  is  likely  to  cement  all  —  by  the  bond  of  suffer- 
ings. 


USAGES  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS.  175 


Use  of  the  word  Holy. 

A  system  which  exalts  the  outward  forms  of  reh- 
gion,  especially  the  ministry  and  the  sacraments; 
which  contemplates  and  provides  for  the  consecration 

"On  the  other  side,  there  is  a  visible  coherence,  and  intelligent  and 
well-directed  concert,  and  political  as  well  as  spiritual  influence,  and 
economized  resources,  and  a  scheme  of  religion  well  adapted  to  the 
tastes  of  perverted  human  nature,  and  moreover  a  manifest  tendency, 
throughout  Europe,  towards  the  restoration  of  a  gorgeous  and  mystic 
spiritual  despotism. 

"  In  this  present  equipoise  of  spiritual  forces,  the  position  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  church  of  England  is — we  must  not  say  neutral, 
but  ambiguous.  It  is  not  as  if  the  church,  strong  in  a  calm  unanimity 
of  feeling,  had  taken  up  a  position  between  the  two  parties,  prepared 
to  mediate,  and  to  rescue  truth  from  the  expected  collision  of  the  two. 
This  is  not  the  fact ;  for  the  church,  intestinely  sundered  in  opinion, 
reels  to  and  fro,  between  the  two,  apparently  inclining  toward  the 
side  of  anti-biblical  despotism,  and  yet  in  the  feeling  which  pervades 
very  many  of  its  individual  and  private  members,  connected  by  vital 
sympathies  with  the  church  —  tntbj  catholic  and  protestant. 

"  At  such  a  moment,  when  human  sagacity  must  quite  fail  in  the 
attempt  to  forecast  the  issue  even  of  a  year's  events,  no  circumstances, 
no  alliances,  no  symbols,  are  unimportant,  which  in  fact  stand  forth  as 
badges  of  filiation  and  paternity,  and  which  may  be  appealed  to 
such,  in  some  moment  of  ecclesiastical  conflict. 

"  A  day  may  come  —  and  such  a  day  seems  to  be  at  hand  —  wherein 
the  church  of  England  will  be  dealt  with  —  not  according  to  its  intrin- 
sic and  ancient  merits;  but  according  to  its  badges  —  according  to 
the  colors  it  wears  —  according  to  its  ostensible  armorial  distinctions. 
And  it  may  be  thus  dealt  with  —  first,  by  its  declared  opponents,  who 
will  snatch  an  incalculable  advantage  in  thus  denouncing  the  Episco- 
pal church  as  a  body  decorated  with  the  scarlet  fringes  and  the  mere- 
tricious ribbons  of  polytheism.  Secondly,  it  may  thus  be  dealt  with 
by  the  mass  of  the  people,  whose  rude  impressions  will  be  confirmed, 
while  they  listened  at  once  to  the  denunciations  of  its  adversaries,  and 
to  the  plausible  pretexts  of  Romish  seducers. 

"  And  next  it  may  be  thus  dealt  with  by  statesmen,  who,  finding  the 
church  resolved  not  to  relinquish  its  symbols  and  bearings,  will  prompt- 
ly act  on  the  assumption  that  this  pertinacity  is  not  without  an  inward 
motive  and  a  reason  ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  church  of  England  ought, 
in  a  legal  sense,  to  be  regarded  as  mainly  one  with  the  Eastern  and 
Romish  churches. 

"  Yet  this  is  not  all ;  for  a  moment  may  come  when  He  who  looketh 
down  from  the  high  heavens,  and  who  deals  with  public  bodies  accord- 
ing to  their  visible  merits,  even  he  who,  in  preparation  for  a  day  of 
terror,  sends  his  angel  to  seal  the  faithful  few  in  their  foreheads,  that 
they  may  be  known  as  his,  in  the  tumult  —  it  may  be  that  He  will 


176  USAGES  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS. 


not  only  of  water,  and  of  bread  and  wine,  but  of  church 
edifices,  bishops,  &.C.,  finds  much  use  for  the  word 
"  holy."  Under  such  a  system,  we  hear  of  holy 
church,  holy  priesthood,  holy  table,  holy  communion, 
holy  baptism,  holy  orders,  and  even  holy  days. 

Under  the  old  dispensation,  there  were  great  num- 
bers of  "  things  "  set  apart  by  divine  appointment,  for 
religious  purposes,  and  called  "holy."  There  were 
the  holy  garments,  the  holy  crown,  the  holy  perfume, 
the  holy  ointment,  the  holy  chambers,  the  holy  ves- 
sels, &c.  Under  the  new  dispensation,  these  things 
were  dispensed  with,  being  no  longer  needed.  Noxp^ 
men  were  not  obliged  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  to  Avorship 
God.  at  certain  seasons,  where  a  priest  might  make  an 
atonement  for  their  sins  ;  but  he  that  would  worship 
him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  might  do  so  anywhere  and  at 
any  time.  Mount  Tabor  was  as  suitable  a  place  for 
worship  as  Mount  Gerizim,  and  Nazareth  as  Jeru- 
salem. All  mountains  and  all  valleys,  all  places  and 
all  things,  were  henceforth  alike  holy.  Thencefor- 
Avard  there  was  to  be  no  consecration  except  that  of 
intelligent  souls  and  human  bodies ;  and  nothing  holy, 

deal  with  the  church  of  England  according  to  its  badges  of  ecclesias- 
tical alliance  ! 

"  And  what  are  these  badges  ?  They  arc  those  of  the  idolatries  of  an 
apostate  church!  The  very  same  names,  names  recommended  alone 
by,  and  known  even  to,  this  apostate  power  alone  ;  commemorations 
which,  through  a  king  course  of  ages,  have  been  the  occasion  of  wicked 
delusions  and  iiilamous  corruptions  —  these  names,  —  these  commem- 
orations—  these  unholy  holidays  —  tliese  festivals  of  Satan  —  these 
anniversaries  of  blasphemy  —  these  flaunting  impieties,  in  the  which 
everything  truly  sacred  is  hung  up  to  scorn  ;  these  names,  commemo- 
rations—  festivals,  whicli  have  been  rejected  by  purer  reformed  com- 
munions, and  are  retained  by  the  Ilomish,  the  Greek,  and  the  Episco- 
pal English,  stand  in  the  view  of  earth  and  of  heaven,  as  broad  noti- 
fications of  party  —  they  are  watchwords  held  ready  for  mustering  a 
host,  —  they  are  symbols  on  banners,  which  may  be  descried,  and  fol- 
lowed, amid  the  confusion  of  that  last  Arrnageddon-field,  whereon  are 
yet  to  be  gathered  all  the  antagonist  forces  of  the  world." — Supple- 
ment, vol.  ii.,  pp.  99—101. 


USAGES  WHICH  BEGET  ROMISH  FEELINGS.  177 

except  God,  and  angels,  and  men,  and  those  things 
which  have  moral  qualities ;  no  priest  to  offer  sacri- 
fices, and  no  holy  garments  for  him  to  wear ;  no  rites 
save  those  which  were  simple,  and  without  incanta- 
tions, and  signs,  and  mysteries ;  and  no  worship  except 
that  which  was  spiritual  and  from  the  heart. 

Hence,  we  hear  nothing  in  the  New  Testament 
about  holy  things.  Nothing  is  accounted  "  holy," 
under  the  new  dispensation,  except  it  has  some  moral 
quality.  Peter  once  speaks  of  the  "  holy  mount," 
evidently  in  reference  to  that  wonderful  visible  display 
of  the  divine  glory,  the  transfiguration ;  but  nowhere 
else,  I  believe,  is  the  word  used,  except  with  the  limi- 
tation just  named. 

Romanism  is  a  system  which  resembles,  in  many 
points,  the  bondage  of  the  old  dispensation.  It 
abounds  in  "  holy  things,"  and  attempts  to  put  these 
between  God  and  the  soul,  and  to  make  them  the 
channels  through  which  all  grace  or  holiness  shall  flow 
from  the  former  to  the  latter.  And  just  so  far  as  we 
have  holy  baptisms,  holy  symbols,  "  holy  mysteries," 
(fee.,  are  we  under  the  ancient  bondage. 


178 


PART  V. 
THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  AEGUMENT. 

CERTAIN  OPINIONS  AND  CUSTOMS  ADOrTED  BY  THE  PROTESTANT 
EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  WHICH  GIVE  INCREASED  ACTIVITY  TO 
THE  CAUSES  OF  PUSEYISM  ALREADY  DESCRIBED. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  NOTION  OF  CATHOLIC  CONSENT. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  prove  that  the  notion  of  what 
is  called  a  "  catholic  consent  "  has  become  very  preva- 
lent in  our  church.  The  substance  of  this  notion  is, 
that  the  visible  church  of  God  being  that  against 
which  our  Lord  promised  that  the  gates  of  hell  should 
not  prevail,  the  great  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  gos- 
pel have  never  been  lost  by  it,  but  have  been  substan- 
tially received,  semper,  iibiqtie,  et  ab  omnibtts,  always, 
everywhere,  and  by  all ;  in  other  words,  that  there  has 
been  a  universal  agreement,  in  the  visible  church,  on 
certain  doctrines. 

The  inference,  practical  and  logical,  which  grows 
out  of  this,  namely,  the  right  of  the  church  to  control 
individual  faith,  belongs  to  the  next  chapter.  I  con- 
fine myself  here  to  an  unqualified  denial  that  there  is 
any  such  thing  as  a  "catholic  consent." 

If  there  be  any  universal  consent,  agreement,  una- 
nimity, or  whatever  it  may  be  called,  it  certainly  may 
be  found  in  the  first  ages  of  the  christian  era,  or,  in 
the  "primitive  church,"  which  the  homilies  often  say 
was  "most  imcorrupt  and  pure."    If  such  consent 


THE  NOTION  OF  CATHOLIC  CONSENT.  179 

cannot  be  discovered  among  the  fathers  of  the  first 
three  or  four  centuries,  it  surely  need  not  be  looked  for 
elsewhere,  for  even  if  unanimity  be  discovered  in  sub- 
sequent times,  it  Avould  lack  the  ahoays,  and  would 
not  be  strictly  catholic  consent.  But  I  deny  that  it  has 
any  existence,  even  in  the  writings  of  the  primitive 
fathers.  I  intend  to  prove  that  the  fathers,  for  the  first 
three  or  four  centuries,  essentially  disagree  and  contra- 
dict each  other,  in  reference  even  to  fundamental  doc- 
trines ;  and  in  doing  this,  I  shall  of  course  show  that 
there  is  no  consentient  voice  of  the  visible  church  dur- 
ing that  period. 

Before  I  proceed  to  examine  this  point,  let  me  sup- 
pose for  a  moment  that  all  the  early  fathers  whose 
writings  have  come  down  to  us  have  spoken  in  perfect 
agreement  with  each  other.  Of  those  who  wrote  dur- 
ing a  little  more  than  the  first  three  hundred  years  of 
the  christian  era,  only  about  twenty  have  sent  down  a 
portion  of  their  writings  to  our  day.  Allowing,  then, 
that  these  writers  have  spoken  harmoniously ;  does 
this  constitute  a  catholic  consent  of  the  church  1  Not 
at  all.  It  is  the  universal  consent  of  these  twenty  per- 
sons; but  of  the  untold  millions  of  Christians  who 
made  up  the  church  during  the  different  periods  of 
those  centuries,  it  is  not  the  millionth  part  of  a  con- 
sent. 

But  there  is  no  consent  among  those  fathers  whose 
writings  have  accidentally  reached  our  times.  See, 
for  example,  what  they  say  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Ori- 
gen,  a  writer  of  distinction,  calls  him  a  thing,  and  says 
expressly  that  he  was  created  by  the  Son.  "  We  truly 
believing,"  his  language  is,  "  that  there  are  three  per- 
sons, the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and 
believing  that  there  is  nothing  unbegotten  [or  uncre- 
ated] but  the  Father,  receive  as  the  most  pious  and 


180  THE  NOTION  OF  CATHOLIC  CONSENT. 

true  the  opinion,  that  of  all  the  things  viade  by  the 
Word,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  most  honorable,  and  ranks 
higher  than  all  things  made  by  the  Father  through 
Christ.  And  perhaps  this  is  the  reason  that  he  is  not 
called  the  very  Son  of  God,  the  only  begotten  alone 
being  originally  by  nature  Son,  who  appears  to  have 
been  necessary  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  ministering  to  the 
formation  of  his  peison,  not  only  tvith  I'es'pect  to  his 
existence,  but  with  respect  to  his  being  wise,  and  endued 
with  reason,  and  Just,  and  everything  which  we  ought 
to  suppose  him  to  be,  according  to  the  participation  of 
those  qualities  of  Christ  which  we  have  already  men- 
tioned." Other  passages  are  found  in  Origen,  in  which 
he  repeats,  in  express  terms,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
made  by  the  Logos. 

Photius  says  that  Pierins,  who  succeeded  Origen  in 
the  school  of  Alexandria,  delivers  very  dangerous  and 
impious  doctrines  concerning  the  Spirit,  for  he  affirms, 
that  "he  is  inferior  in  glory  to  the  Father  and  the 
Son."  Theognastus,  he  charges  with  the  same  heresy. 
Novatian  calls  the  Paraclete  "inferior  to  Christ,"  on 
account  of  which,  and  other  things  asserted  by  him, 
Pamelius  says  he  is  not  orthodox  :  and  Ruffinus  men- 
tions the  fact  that  the  Macedonians,  who  denied  the 
divinity  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  circulated  his  works  for  the 
purpose  of  sustaining  their  cause.  Lactantius,  in  his 
letters  to  Demetrius,  denies  the  entity  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Eusebius  says  the  sentiment  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  made  by  the  Son,  was  the  doctrine  of  "  the 
catholic  and  holy  church."  And  Jerome  says,  "  many, 
through  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures,"  assert  a"  doctrine 
essentially  the  same. 

It  is  not  needful  to  show  that  there  are  fathers,  on 
the  other  side,  who  affirm  the  supreme  divinity  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.   The  supporters  of  a  catholic  consent  will 


THE  NOTION  OF  CATHOLIC  CONSENT.  181 

allow  this ;  for  it  is  presumed  that  some  of  them,  at 
least,  would  sooner  yield  the  notion  of  a  consentient 
voice  of  the  church  than  admit  that  this  voice  is  heard 
only  in  support  of  the  opinion  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  a 
mere  thing,  created  by  the  Son.  On  the  vital  question, 
then,  whether  converted  sinners  have  been  renewed  by 
an  Almighty  Sanctifier,  or  by  some  created  being  only, 
the  fathers  are  by  no  means  agreed. 

And  what  is  their  testimony  in  regard  to  the  ever 
blessed  Son  of  God?  Not  a  whit  more  harmonious 
than  in  reference  to  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Athenagoras  says  of  Christ,  that  "  he  is  the  first-born 
of  the  Father,  not  as  a  created  being,  (for,  from  the  be- 
ginning, God,  being  an  eternal  Mmd,  had  the  Word  in 
himself,  being  etidued  with  reason  from  etei'nity,')  but 
as  having  come  forth  to  be  the  form  and  energy  of  all 
material  things."  Theophilus  of  Antioch  speaks  of 
the  Word  as  the  "mind  and  understanding"  of  God; 
and  says  that  "when  God  wished  to  make  the  things 
he  had  resolved  upon,  he  brought  forth  this  Word  as 
an  eternal  Word,"  &c.  Justin  Martyr  says,  "  Before 
all  created  things,  God  begat  a  certain  rational  power, 
{dvvafiig  lo)'iy.rj,)  of  himself;"  and  adds,  that  this  is 
called  Son,  Word,  &c. 

These  passages  seem  to  teach  that  the  Son  existed 
in  the  Fatlier,  before  his  generation,  as  an  essence,  but 
not  as  a  person.  The  writer  certainly  could  not  have 
believed  in  his  eternal  existence  as  the  second  person 
in  the  Trinity. 

But  see  what  Tertullian  says  respecting  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  "  The  Father  is  the  whole  substance, 
but  the  Son  a  derivation  and  portion  of  the  whole,  as 
he  himself  professes,"  "For  the  Father  is  greater  than 
I."  And  still  further,  "  God  is  a  Father,  and  God  is  a 
Judge ;  but  he  was  not  always  a  Father  and  Judge  be- 
16 


182 


THE  NOTION  OF  CATHOLIC  CONSENT. 


cause  always  God.  For  he  could  neither  be  a  Father 
before  there  was  a  Son,  nor  a  Judge  before  there  was 
an  offence.  But  there  was  a  time  when  there  was 
neither  an  offence  nor  a  Son."  In  commenting  on  the 
words,  "  Who,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not 
robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,"  Novatian  says,  "Nev- 
ertheless, this  very  thing,  that  he  should  be  both  God 
and  Lord  of  all  things,  and  God,  after  the  form  of  God 
the  Father,  he  obtained  from  his  Father,  being  born 
and  brought  forth  of  him.  Although,  therefore,  he  was 
in  the  form  of  God,  he  did  not  think  it  fell  to  his  lot  to 
be  equal  with  God.  For  although  he  remembered  that 
he  was  God  of  God  the  Father,  he  never  either  com- 
pared or  likened  himself  to  God  the  Father,  remem- 
bering that  he  was  of  his  own  Father,  and  that  he 
possessed  existence  because  the  Father  had  given  it." 

I  need  not  multiply  these  quotations.  Admitting 
again,  what  all  will  allow,  and  what  is  certainly  very 
true,  that  another  portion  of  the  fathers  gave  what  is 
called  the  orthodox  view  of  this  subject,  and  we  have 
before  us  the  fact, — as  stubborn  as  any  fact  in  his- 
tory,—  that  the  fathers  did  not  agree  respecting  the 
eternal  generation  of  the  Son,  and  his  equality  with 
the  Father. 

In  the  interpretation  of  the  Scripture,  as  might  be 
expected,  there  is  as  little  consent  among  the  fathers 
as  in  reference  to  the  doctrines  just  considered.  We 
have  not  space  to  allude  to  more  than  one  or  two.  We 
select  John  x.  30.  —  "I  and  my  Father  are  one."  All 
the  Ante-Nicene  fathers  interpret  this  passage  as  im- 
plying a  oneness  between  the  Father  and  the  Son  only 
in  loill^  in  purjmse,  in  affection,  &c. ;  and  some  of  them 
quote,  as  a  parallel  passage,  the  language  of  Paul  in 
reference  to  himself  and  Apollos,  "  He  that  planteth, 
and  he  that  watereth  are  one.^'    So  unanimous  are 


THE  NOTION  OF  CATHOLIC  CONSENT.  183 

these  writers  in  giving  this  sense  to  the  words,  that  Mr. 
Goode,  —  a  man  deeply  versed  in  patristic  learning, — 
says  he  is  not  aware  that  there  is  "  any  passage  among 
the  Ante-Nicene  fathers,  as  showing  the  unity  of  es- 
sence between  the  Father  and  the  Son."  And  yet,  at 
a  subsequent  period,  all  the  writers  against  the  Arians, 
such  as  Hilary,  Athanasius,  Basil,  Augustine,  &x;.,  give 
it  this  latter  sense. 

Take  Proverbs  viii.  22,  "The  Lord  possessed  me  in  the 
beginning  of  his  way  before  his  works  of  old."  Justin 
Martyr.  Athenagoras,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  Ter- 
tuUian,  apply  this  to  the  divine  generation  of  Christ. 
Irenaeus  applies  it  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  at  a  subse- 
quent period,  when  Arianism  was  prevailing,  it  was 
generally  understood  by  the  opposers  of  that,  to  refer  to 
the  generation  of  the  human  nature  of  Christ.  Hilary- 
thinks  it  was  Christ  who  assumed  a  human  form,  and 
appeared  to  Adam  in  paradise,  and  afterwards  to  Abra- 
ham, and  that  these  words  refer  to  that  taking  of  a 
human  form.  Here,  then,  are  four  interpretations 
given  by  the  fathers  to  this  passage,  differing  as  widely 
from  each  other  as  the  human  from  the  divine. 

According  to  a  principle  almost  universally  con- 
tended for  by  those  who  think  much  of  the  testimony 
of  the  early  church,  those  who  lived  nearest  the  apos- 
tolic age  are  most  to  be  relied  upon.  We  often  hear  it 
said,  that  the  sense  put  by  the  apostles  upon  prom- 
inent passages  of  Scripture  must  have  been  handed 
down  to  the  earlier  fathers,  so  that  their  testimony  is 
exceedingly  valuable,  because  it  records  what  was 
handed  down  to  them  as  a  kind  of  inspired  commen- 
tary on  the  word  of  God.  Now,  the  facts  I  have  ad- 
duced show  two  things  :  first,  that  a  unanimous  con- 
sent in  the  church  in  regard  to  leading  doctrines,  or  in 
reference  to  the  interpretation  of  prominent  texts,  is  a 


184  THE  NOTION  OF  CATHOLIC  CONSENT. 

delusion;  and,  secondly,  that  the  testimony  of  the  early 
fathers  npon  the  matter  of  fact  as  to  what  interpreta- 
tion was  given  in  the  beginning  to  certain  passages,  is 
not  reliable, — they  testifying  unanimously  to  an  inter- 
pretation which  every  one  knows  to  be  wrong,  unless 
the  orthodox  fathers  of  a  subsequent  period  were  all 
wrong,  and  the  Avians  all  right. 

Some  Episcopalians  may  be  ready  to  say,  by  this 
time,  that  they  do  not  suppose  any  "catholic  consent" 
has  ever  been  expressed  by  the  fathers  as  individuals ; 
but  that,  whenever  the  church  has  spoken  through 
general  councils,  they  believe  her  voice  has  been  con- 
sentient. 

Some  carry  their  views  only  to  this  extent,  I  am 
aware;  but  I  can  assure  such  that  I  have  not  been 
chasing  a  phantom ;  for  there  are  multitudes  among  us 
whose  sentiments  are  exactly  met  by  the  remarks  I 
have  been  making.  I  am  very  willing,  however,  in 
view  of  this  new  class  of  objectors,  to  change  my  line 
of  argument;  and  I  now  deny  that  "catholic  consent" 
is  to  be  found  among  general  councils. 

In  the  year  325,  a  council  assembled,  by  order  of 
Constantine  the  Great,  in  the  city  of  Nice.  It  was 
composed  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  bishops. 
This  council  adopted  the  Nicene  creed,  which  ex- 
presses, in  very  strong  terms,  the  Deity  of  Christ.  But 
what  becomes  of  the  "consentient"  notion,  Avhen  we 
learn  that,  at  the  council  of  Ariminum,  held  some  twen- 
ty-five years  after,  at  which  there  were  six  hundred 
bishops  present,  and  which  bishop  Stillingfleet  calls 
"  the  most  general  council  we  read  of  in  church  histo- 
ry," the  doctrine  of  Arius  was  ratified  and  confirmed, 
directly  in  the  face  of  the  creed  adopted  at  Nice  1  Au- 
gustine, when  endeavoring  to  refute  an  Arian,  had  the 
magnanimity  and  good  sense  to  admit  that  his  oppo- 


THE  NOTION  OF  CATHOLIC  CONSENT.  185 

nent's  citation  of  the  council  of  Ariminum,  was  worth 
as  much  as  his  of  that  of  Nice ;  and  said  the  Scriptures 
were  the  only  proper  court  of  appeal  in  such  matters. 
And  sure  I  am  that  all  who  have  looked  at  this  subject 
with  any  care  will  approve  his  decision. 

Such,  then,  is  the  view  which  facts  give  us  of  the 
so  much  talked  of  "catholic  consent"  of  the  church! 
The  truth  is,  we  cannot  find  enough  of  it  to  cover  even 
the  narrow  ground  occupied  by  the  Nicene  creed.  For 
while  Trinitarianism  may  claim  a  number  of  the  Ante- 
Nicene  fathers,  and  the  decision  of  the  three  hundred 
and  sixty  odd  bishops  who  composed  the  council  of 
Nice,  in  favor  of  that  creed — Arianism  is  permitted  to 
boast  of  others  of  those  fathers,  and  of  the  opinions  of 
the  six  hundred  bishops  assembled  in  council  at  Arim- 
inum, in  support  of  the  doctrines  of  Arius.  I  have 
no  words  to  express  my  surprise,  therefore,  that  any 
intelligent  member  of  our  church  should  be  caught  in 
the  silly  net  of  catholic  consent.  A  more  perfect  Jig- 
ment  never  was  invented ;  and  yet  the  devil  is  at  this 
moment  using  it  to  beguile  unwary  protestants,  pre- 
paratory to  the  final  ensnaring  of  them  with  the  debas- 
ing papal  dogma  of  an  ecclesia  docens.  It  is  a  cause 
of  Puseyism  of  tremendous  power. 
16* 


186 


CHAPTER  II. 

AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

The  doctrine  of  a  catholic  consent  leads  necessarily  to 
that  of  infallibility ;  for,  if  in  all  ages  there  has  been  in 
the  church  a  universal  doctrinal  agreement,  — in  other 
words,  if  in  all  periods  and  all  places,  the  same  chris- 
tian doctrines  have  been  held  and  professed  by  all 
branches  of  the  church,  —  this  could  have  resulted  from 
nothing  else  than  an  infallible  power  to  perceive  the 
truth,  and  an  indefectible  purpose  to  embrace  it.  And 
then,  out  of  this  infallibility  grows  the  church's  au- 
thority. A  teacher  who  has  been  instructing  the  world 
for  eighteen  hundred  years,  and  has  never  committed 
an  essential  mistake,  may  surely  speak  as  one  having 
authority.  Hence,  those  who  believe  in  a  catholic 
consent  generally  claim  the  subjection  of  reason  and 
conscience  to  the  teaching  of  the  church. 

In  the  last  chapter  I  denied  the  fact  that  the  church 
has  spoken  with  any  such  unanimity  as  is  pretended. 
I  now  deny  the  doctrine  usually  drawn  out  of  it,  name- 
ly, the  right  of  the  church  to  control  the  faith  and  the 
conscience. 

It  is  doubtfid  whether  such  a  thing  as  a  strictly 
general  council  was  ever  held  ;  but  if  such  a  council 
were  possible,  its  decisions  would  probably  be  the  best 
exponent  of  the  general  church's  views  that  could  be 
had. 

Let  it  be  supposed,  then,  that,  at  the  present  mo- 
ment, there  is  assembled  in  general  council,  in  the  city 
of  London,  a  full  representation  from  every  branch  of 
the  visible  church,  in  all  parts  of  the  christian  world ; 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHUKCH. 


187 


such  a  representation  as  will  malce  a  full,  fair,  and 
unquestioned  expose  of  the  prevailing  sentiments  of  the 
whole  body  of  professed  believers.  What  will  prob- 
ably be  the  result  of  their  deliberations'?  "Most 
likely,"  one  will  say,  "they  will  quarrel,  and  break 
lip  in  confusion,  without  settling  anything."  That,  as 
they  will  be  called  to  act  on  doctrinal  matters,  is  not 
very  improbable.  But  let  us  suppose  they  accomplish 
the  purpose  of  their  coming  together,  and  pass,  in  due 
form,  the  requisite  number  of  decrees.  Will  the  advo- 
cates of  catholic  consent,  and  its  attendant  dogmas, 
pledge  themselves  in  advance,  to  hold,  believe,  and 
defend  all  they  decree  7  Perhaps  this  is  a  new  ques- 
tion ;  but  they  must  not  shrink  back  from  it.  If  they 
would  be  consistent,  they  must  answer,  yea.  And  to 
what  will  they  probably  be  called  to  assent  1  The 
council  is  composed  of  Roman  Catholics,  Greeks, 
Armenians,  Nestorians,  Lutherans,  Presbyterians,  Con- 
gregationalists,  Baptists,  Methodists,  Episcopalians, 
&c.  In  such  an  assembly,  the  Roman  Catholic  dele- 
gates, or  they  and  the  Greek  representatives  together, 
it  is  well  known,  will  exercise  a  largely  preponder- 
ating influence.  They  will  outvote  all  others,  and 
gain  the  sanction  of  the  council  for  such  decrees  as 
they  see  fit  to  introduce.  What,  then,  can  be  expected 
but  a  reenactment  of  the  decrees  of  Trent,  or  some- 
thing equivalent  thereto? 

I  know  it  would  be  impossible  to  collect  such  a 
council  as  is  here  supposed,  or  to  hold  together  its  dis- 
cordant materials  until  the  full  settling  of  its  opinions ; 
but  it  is  not  the  less  true,  that,  if  such  a  coming 
together  and  such  an  avowal  of  opinions  could  be 
effected,  the  whole  weight  of  the  council's  judgment 
would  be  cast  into  the  scale  of  error.  In  short,  it  is 
perfectly  clear,  that,  if  the  judgment  of  the  whole  visi- 


188 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


ble  church  could  be  collected,  whether  by  a  general 
council,  or  in  some  other  way,  it  would  be  in  favor  of 
transubstantiation,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  justifica- 
tion by  inherent  righteousness,  and  a  variety  of  other 
errors,  which,  with  these,  overlay  and  obscure,  if  they 
do  not  destroy,  the  saving  effect  of  the  truth.  To  say 
nothing  of  the  Greek  church,  which  is  but  little  less 
heretical,  the  Romish  communion  outnumbers  all 
protestant  denominations;  so  that  the  result  of  any 
outward  expression  of  judgment  on  the  part  of  the 
whole  visible  church,  could  not  fail  to  be  as  I  have 
stated. 

I  put  four  questions  to  the  supporters  of  catholic  con- 
sent, and  the  binding  authority  of  the  whole  visible 
church's  decision. 

1.  Do  you  deny  that  the  voice  of  the  whole  visible 
church,  if  it  could  at  this  moment  be  heard,  would  be 
on  the  side  of  great  and  dangerous  errors  ?  Examine 
the  subject.  Study  the  symbolical  writings  of  those 
bodies  which  make  up  the  sum  total  of  the  visible 
church.  Look  into  their  statistics ;  and  then,  in  the 
exercise  of  a  prudent  calculation,  bring  their  suffrages 
together,  and  say  whether  you  can  deny  what  is  stated 
above  ? 

2.  If  not,  do  you  still  maintain  that  the  decisions  of 
the  whole  church  are  binding  7  These  questions,  you 
will  see,  have  a  bearing  upon  each  other.  It  is 
important  that  you  should  settle,  in  your  own  mind, 
not  one  merely,  but  both.  You  are  bound  to  admit 
the  position  taken,  or  prove  from  the  creeds  and  statis- 
tics of  the  several  denominations  that  it  is  untenable ; 
and,  if  you  find  my  statement  to  be  true,  you  are 
bound  to  answer  this  second  question  in  view  of  that 
statement.  That  you  cannot  drive  me  from  the 
ground  taken,  is  very  evident.    How,  then,  will  you 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


189 


answer  the  second  question  1  I  must  of  course  con- 
clude that  you  have  thought  of  these  questions,  and 
that  you  are  probably  ready  to  affirm,  that  whatever 
the  whole  church  shall  judge  to  be  true,  and  necessary 
to  be  received,  that,  the  individual  judgment  is  mrder 
the  strongest  obligations  to  receive. 

3.  If  so,  Avill  you,  as  individuals,  submit  your  judg- 
ments to  the  guidance  of  the  general  church  '?  and  will 
you  hold  and  defend  such  doctrines  as  you  have 
reason  to  believe  would-be  sanctioned  as  necessary  by 
such  a  general  council  as  I  have  supposed  ?  You  will 
see  that  these  questions  very  naturally  link  themselves 
together,  and  have  a  mutual  bearing  and  dependence. 
If  it  be  admitted  that  a  strictly  general  council  of  the 
present  visible  church  would  sanction  erroneous  doc- 
trines, and  that  the  decisions  of  such  a  council  would 
be  binding  on  the  individual  conscience,  then  it  fol- 
lows that  you  would  be  under  obligation  to  embrace 
any  doctrine  which  such  a  council  might  propose  to 
you.  Arc  you  ready  to  admit  your  obligation  to 
do  so? 

4.  If  it  be  admitted  that  the  judgment  of  the  church 
may  be  settled  by  general  covmcils,  and  these  councils 
pass  their  decrees  by  the  vote  of  the  majority  ;  if  such 
councils  may  assemble  at  any  time,  and  their  decisions 
must  be  received  as  truth  by  christian  men ;  then  it 
follows  that  whatever  a  majority  of  those  composing 
the  visible  church  believe,  that,  if  it  can  be  discovered, 
every  individual  Christian  is  bound  to  receive,  whether 
it  has  or  has  not  been  formally  decreed.  Are  you 
ready,  therefore,  to  receive  transvibstantiation,  and 
such  other  objectionable  doctrines  as  you  are  well  per- 
suaded a  majority  of  the  present  visible  church  now 
hold,  and  would  express,  if  an  opportunity  were 
given  ? 


190 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


It  may  possibly  be  objected  that  I  am  arguing  this 
whole  question  on  too  narrow  a  basis ;  that  I  am  sup- 
posing those  against  whose  opinions  these  remarks 
are  directed  to  hold  that  the  decisions  of  the  whole 
church,  at  any  one  particular  period,  are  binding  upon 
individuals;  whereas,  their  rule  is,  not  only  "every- 
where and  by  all,"  but  always  f  that  they  believe 
any  doctrine,  in  order  to  be  binding  upon  men,  must  not 
only  be  embraced  by  a  majority  of  the  whole,  but  that 
it  must  have  been  so  held  through  the  whole  period  of 
the  chtircKs  history.  I  beg  leave  to  say  this  consid- 
eration has  not  been  overlooked.  But  if  the  whole 
church  of  one  period  may  contradict  the  whole  church 
of  another,  then  her  decisions  surely  cannot  be  bind- 
ing on  the  conscience  at  any  time,  and  the  judgments 
of  general  councils  can  have  no  weight.  Either, 
therefore,  the  authority  of  councils  must  be  surren- 
dered, or  my  argument  must  be  admitted  to  stand  on 
as  broad  a  foundation  as  the  subject  admits.  And  if 
the  authority  of  councils  be  abandoned,  and  the  deci- 
sions of  the  church,  at  ariy  given  period,  are  decided  to 
be  without  weight;  if  it  be  claimed  that  the  idea  of 
"  always"  must  be  added  to  the  "  everywhere  and  by 
all,"  then  nothing  in  the  way  of  authority  can  be 
urged  upon  the  conscience  until  the  church  shall  have 
completed  her  history ;  for  "always,"  I  suppose,  must 
imply  the  whole  compass  of  its  militant  existence, 
including  the  future  as  well  as  the  past.  This,  at  all 
events,  is  the  common  sense  view ;  for  if  the  church 
in  any  past  age  may  differ  from  the  church  in  the 
present,  so  the  church  of  this  day,  and  the  church  of 
past  times,  may  essentially  contradict  the  church  of 
the  future.* 

*  A  tract  issued  by  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Society  of  New  York 
has  these  remarks  : 

"  The  dissenter  exercises  his  private  judgment  in  deciding  that  he 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


191 


Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  views  I  am  combating  have 
a  very  dangerous  tendency, — resulting  in  the  doctrine 
of  the  infaUibiUty  of  the  church,  and  the  loss  of  private 
judgment. 

is  at  liberty  to  judge  for  himself  of  the  proper  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture, without  any  guidance  from  the  church.  The  Romanist  exer- 
cises his  private  judgment  in  deciding  that  he  ought  to  follow  im- 
plicitly the  guidance  of  the  church  of  Rome,  without  reference  to 
Scripture.  The  member  of  the  church  of  England,  or  of  America, 
exercises  his  private  judgment  in  deciding  that  he  ought  to  follow  the 
guidance  of  his  church,  so  long  as  that  church  is  led  by  Scripture, 
interpreted  by  the  consentient  void  of  the  catholic  church  from  the  begin- 
ning." 

The  only  difference  which  can  be  seen  between  the  Roman  doc- 
trine and  that  here  propounded,  is  this ;  —  that  while  the  Roman  sen- 
timent is  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  present  church  is  infallible, 
as  well  as  the  universal  church  through  past  ages,  the  above  passage 
implies  that  the  present  church  may  err,  and  that  we  are  therefore 
only  bound  to  follow  it  when  i«  follows  the  "catholic  church  from  the 
beginning,"  which  is  infallible.  The  language  of  the  tract  takes  for 
granted  that  the  attentive  ear  may  hear  in  the  "  catholic  church  from 
the  beginning"  a  "consentient  voice"  respecting  the  doctrines  of 
religion,  and  that  by  comparing  the  teachings  of  the  present  church 
with  the  infallible  instructions  of  this  unanimous  voice,  one  may 
learn  whether  he  may  or  may  not  deviate  from  the  "  guidance  of  his 
church." 

This  sentiment  plainly  involves  an  absurdity.  It  assumes  that 
while  the  church  through  all  past  ages  has  been  harmonious  in  its 
enunciations  of  truth,  it  has  suddenly,  in  the  present  day,  become 
fallible,  and  liable  to  break  that  unity  of  sentiment  which  has  pre- 
vailed up  to  the  present  period.  So  that  those  learned  divines  who 
write  tracts  in  the  next  generation  may  rejoice  in  being  guided  by  a 
"consentient  voice  of  the  catholic  church"  up  to  the  beginning  of  "the 
nineteenth  century,  but  will  be  obliged  to  interrupt  their  gratulations 
by  expressions  of  sorrow  and  grief,  that,  at  the  period  of  time  lying 
just  behind  them,  a  demon  of  error  entered  the  church,  and  notes  were 
sent  forth,  not  accordant  with  that  harmonious  voice  which  has  been 
heard  from  the  beginning. 

The  truth  is,  this  doctrine  is  a  little  more  Jesuitical  than  that  of  the 
Roman  church.  The  holders  of  it  know  very  well  that  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  present  church  is  a  doctrine  which,  in  any  undisguised 
form,  protestants  cannot,  by  any  possibility,  be  induced  to  embrace. 
The  object,  therefore,  is  to  be  reached  in  another  way.  An  undefined, 
inaccessible  tribunal,  called  the  "  catholic  church  from  the  beginning," 
must  be  set  up,  "  and  a  consentient  voice  '•'  given  to  it,  which  utters 
only  the  infallible  decrees  of  truth.  So,  to  complete  the  delusion,  and  to 
withdraw  the  mind  of  the  inquirer  from  the  real  object  aimed  at,  the 
present  church  must  be  pronounced  fallible,  and  the  searcher  after 
truth  must  be  allowed,  in  the  exercise  of  his  private  judgment,  to 


192 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


But  I  shall  have  missed  my  aim  in  pursuing  this 
argument,  if  it  shall  turn  out,  that  our  church,  neither 
in  its  standards,  nor  in  the  general  current  of  its  opin- 
ions, gives  any  encouragement  to  such  notions.  How, 
then,  is  this  matter  ? 

The  homilies,  as  I  showed  in  a  former  part  of  this 
worlc,  have  not  been  silent  on  this  subject.  They 
have  not,  however,  spoken  so  much  of  the  church  in 

deviate  from  it  whenever  he  can  discover  that  its  teachings  vary  from 
this  "  consentient  voice  of  the  catholic  church  from  the  beginning." 

We  submit  whether  this  doctrine  does  not  as  effectually  withdraw 
the  mind  from  any  direct  appeal  to  the  Scriptures  as  the  out  and  out 
Roman  dogma  itself.  To  our  mind  it  certainly  does.  For  to  what 
is  the  appeal  made  ?  To  the  Scriptures  simply,  as  the  Holy  Ghost, 
through  inspired  men,  has  spread  them  out  before  us  without  note  or 
comment  ?  No  ;  but  to  the  Scripture  interpreted  by  the  "  consentient 
voice  of  the  catholic  church,  from  the  beginning."  Now,  this  language  is 
intended  to  fill  the  mind  with  a  spirit  of  inquiry ;  but  does  it  start 
the  direct  inciuiry  what  the  Bible  means  ?  No  ;  but  rather,  ivhat  the 
church  says  it  means.  The  appeal  is  to  the  church,  as  being  a  better 
interpreter  of  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  than  the  record  of  inspiration 
itself.  The  Spirit  has  certain  things  to  reveal  to  men.  Certain  in- 
spired men  are  employed  to  make  a  record  of  these  things  ;  but  the 
record  does  not  make  known  what  the  Spirit  wishes  to  reveal.  The 
church  must  tell  us  what  the  revelation  is.  Disguise  it  as  we  will, 
therefore,  it  is  the  church,  and  not  the  Bible,  to  which  this  theory 
sends  us  for  instruction.  The  form  of  it  differs  a  little  from  the 
Roman  doctrine,  but  in  substance  it  amounts  to  about  the  same 
thing. 

We  need  not  stop  long  here  to  inquire  into  the  practical  value  of 
any  consentient  testimony  of  the  church  in  all  ages  respecting  the 
meaning  of  the  Bible,  supposing  it  to  exist :  for  it  is  evident,  at  the 
first  glance,  that  it  could  avail  those  only  who  had  mastered  the  accu- 
mulated theology  of  eighteen  centuries.  And  how  many  are  there 
among  the  laity  who  are  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  decrees  of 
councils,  and  the  opinions  of  learned  men  and  doctors  in  all  ages,  to 
give  any  intelligible  and  reliable  account  of  what  the  church  has  held 
from  the  beginning,  be  it  harmonious  or  discordant  ?  We  shall  prob- 
ably be  far  within  the  limits  of  truth  if  we  say,  not  one  in  ten  thou- 
sand. And  what  proportion  of  the  clergy  could  probably  draw  out 
from  their  minds  at  any  moment  a  consecutive  and  well  arranged 
view  of  the  teachings  of  the  church  through  all  ages,  upon  the  vari- 
ous doctrines  of  the  Bible  ?  Certainly  not  one  in  a  hundred.  If,  then, 
the  Scriptures  are  to  be  understood  only  as  "interpreted  by  the  con- 
sentient voice  of  the  catholic  church  from  the  beginning,"  who  can 
become  wise  unto  salvation  by  understanding  them  ?  One  in  a  hun- 
dred of  the  clergy,  at  most,  and  perhaps  one  in  ten  thousand  of  the 
laity ! 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


193 


its  widest  sense,  as  existing  through  all  time,  as  of  the 
particular  2^rimitive  church.  Nor  will  I  affirm  that 
the  homilies  have  claimed  for  the  ancient  church  even, 
any  absolute  and  unqualified  authority.  That  they  do 
defer  to  the  primitive  church ;  that  they  claim  for  it 
some  authority  ;  that  they  put  it  forward  as  a  sort  of 
timpire  in  settling  controversies,  there  caimot  be  a  Avell- 
gromided  doubt.  For,  in  the  first  place,  they  quote  it, 
side  by  side,  with  the  Scriptures,  thus — "We  are 
taught  by  the  Scriptures  and  ancient  doctors."  "  Con- 
trary to  the  which  most  manifest  doctrine  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  contrary  to  the  usage  of  the  primitive 
church,  which  was  most  pure  and  uncorrupt,  and  con- 
trary to  the  sentences  and  judgments  of  the  most 
ancient,  learned  and  godly  doctors  of  the  church." 
"  It  shall  be  declared,  both  by  God's  word,  and  the 
sentences  of  the  ancient  doctors,  and  judgment  of  the 
primitive  church."  "  Thus  you  see  that  the  authority 
both  of  the  Scripture,  and  also  of  Augustine,  doth  not 
permit,"  &c. 

Now  let  it  be  granted  that  the  homilists  believed 
and  taught  that  a  doctrine  established  by  the  Scrip- 
tures "hath  no  more  need  of  the  confirmation  of 
man's  doctrine  and  writings,  than  the  bright  sun  at 
noontide  hath  need  of  the  light  of  a  little  candle,  to  put 
away  darkness,  and  to  increase  his  light ;"  it  is  yet 
true  that  they  haA'-e  lifted  up  that  little  candle,  and 
daringly  set  it  down  beside  the  great  sun,  with  the 
avowed  intention  of  shedding  more  light  into  the  minds 
of  opponents.  They  have  practically  made  it  a  co- 
ordinate light. 

It  has  been  said  that  by  the  words  "judgment"  and 
"sentences"  of  the  fathers,  nothing  more  is  meant 
than  their  opinions.  Let  it  be  granted — what  then? 
So  long  as  these  judgments  or  opinions  are  made  a 
17 


194 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


standard  by  which  to  decide  certain  things,  what  mat- 
ters it  what  they  are  called  7  I  claim  the  privilege  to 
go  below  the  surface,  and  lay  hold  of  things,  leaving 
those  to  play  with  names  who  deem  it  a  suitable 
employment. 

That  I  am  right  in  saying  the  homilists  do  defer  to 
the  primitive  church,  appears  evident  from  such  lan- 
guage as  this — "The  primitive  church,  which  is 
specially  to  he  followed,  as  most  uncorrupt  and  pure." 
If  the  word  of  God  be  the  only  standard,  why  is  the 
primitive  church  "specially  to  be  followed?" 

Great  mischief  has  resulted  from  this  appeal  to  the 
fathers,  because,  especially,  it  is  not  legitimate.  It 
does  not  establish  what  it  was  intended  to  establish. 
It  sends  the  inquirer,  for  proof  against  the  idolatry  of 
saint-worship,  and  picture-worship,  and  relic-worship, 
to  a  period  which  is  full  of  testimony  in  its  favor.  It 
represents  the  church  as  most  pure  and  uncorrupt  at 
the  very  time  when  it  was  most  corrupt  and  impure. 
The  distinguished  Isaac  Taylor,  a  member  of  the 
church  of  England,  who  is  deeply  read  in  patristic 
learning,  and,  withal,  is  one  of  the  most  fresh  and 
vigorous  writers  of  the  age,  has  made  out,  on  this 
point,  a  case  against  the  homilies,  whicli  is  to  me,  — 
and,  could  I  spread  out  on  these  pages  his  learned 
array  of  facts  and  arguments,  it  would  be  to  the 
reader,  — astonishing  beyond  measure.  He  shows  that 
the  homilists  commit  great  errors  in  citing  the  fathers, 
first,  by  incorrect  references,  and,  secondly,  by  inaccu- 
rate quotations.  He  shows  that  they  often  attribute  to 
one  author  words  that  were  used  by  another;  and, 
above  all,  that  they  give  no  heed  to  the  context,  thus 
citing  them,  often,  to  prove  the  very  opposite  of  their 
known  sentiments,  and  to  condemn  usages  which 
their  own  writings  show  them  to  have  approved  and 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


195 


practised.  I  can  scarcely  restrain  the  temptation  to 
crowd  large  extracts  into  these  pages ;  but  that  I  must 
not  do.  Let  the  reader  procure  Taylor's  "Ancient 
Christianity,"  London  edition,  and  read  the  fifty  odd 
pages  devoted  to  this  point,  and  the  same  amazement 
which  fills  my  mind  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  fill  his. 
The  most  that  I  can  do  is  to  give  a  few  sentences 
from  this  author,  and  one  rather  long  note.    He  says : 

"I  leave  it  to  the  ingenious  reader  to  devise  some 
probable  explication  of  the  astounding  contradictions 
presented  in  the  following  passage,  occurring  in  the 
'  Sermon  concerning  Prayer.'  Inconsistencies  so  dis- 
creditable call,  surely,  for  a  revising  hand." 

He  then  gives  the  extract,  and  appends  this  remark. 
"  How  shall  the  protestant  church  contend  with 
popery,  while,  by  appeals  such  as  these,  to  the  fathers, 
it  puts  an  irrefragable  argument  into  the  mouth  of  the 
Romanist." 

He  then  goes  on  to  compare  the  several  allegations 
of  the  homilist  with  the  authorities  he  adduces,  and 
shows  that  the  letter  of  Augustine  to  Paulinus,  which 
the  homilist  quotes  as  high  authority,  is  full  of  recog- 
nitions and  professions  of  the  very  opinions  and  prac- 
tices which  he  was  laboring  to  disparage.  He  cites 
passages  from  Augustine,  containing  a  "  distinct  recog- 
nition, and  his  explicit  approval  of  a  practice — at  that 
time  prevalent — of  addressing  fervent  supplications  to 
the  martyrs,  at  their  shrines,  beseeching  them  to 
undertake  the  office  of  intercessors  for  the  departed !" 
"  Here,  therefore,"  continues  Mr.  Taylor,  "  the  com- 
plicated superstitions  of  the  times,  involving  every 
theological  error,  are  sanctioned  by  this  '  doctor  of  great 
authority,  and  also  antiquity:' — and  yet  the  homilist 
can  think  himself  at  hberty  to  cite  Augustine  on  the 


196 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


protestant  side,  as  one  who  '  doth  not  permit  that  we 
should  pray  unto  them'  (the  saints  and  martyrs !)" 

Again;  "O  that  men  would  studiously  read  and 
search  the  Scriptures!" — a  most  appropriate  ejacula- 
tion, indeed,  and  worthy  of  a  protestant  teacher.  But 
when  all  men  shall  actually  do  so,  the  consequence,  we 
may  be  sure,  will  be,  their  utterly  rejecting  the  perni- 
cious guidance  of  those  "ancient  doctors"  to  whom  the 
writers  of  the  homilies  so  unwarrantably  made  their 
appeal. 

Again;  after  attending  to  a  number  of  quotations 
from  Ambrose,  as  contained  in  the  homilies,  Mr.  Tay- 
lor says,  "  To  what  purpose,  then,  may  Ambrose  be 
adduced,  as  disallowing  the  invocation  of  saints,  or  the 
practice  of  confiding  in  their  protection?  He  himself 
habitually  invoked  them — he  himself  professes  his 
confident  reliance  upon  their  merits  and  interces- 
sion ! " 

"  '  So  saith  St.  Chrysostom,  an  ancient  doctor  of  the 
church.'  But  what  is  it  that  Chrysostom  saith?  not 
that  which  the  homilist  affirms,  but  the  very  contrary ! 
I  need  not  here  repeat  or  add  to  the  citations  already 
made  from  the  undoubted  writings  of  Chrysostom,  in 
proof  of  the  fact  that  this  father  warmly,  and  on  all 
occasions,  recommended  the  practice  which  the  writer 
of  the  'Sermon  on  Prayer'  as  warmly  and  constantly 
condemns." 

Again;  "The  references  to  the  ancient  catholic  fa- 
thers in  the  homily,  'Of  the  worthy  receiving  and 
I'everent  esteeming  of  the  sacrament  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,'  are  liable  to  the  same  kind  of  excep- 
tion;—  for,  in  several  of  these  instances,  if  the  whole 
case  were  fairly  stated,  that  'gross  idolatry,'  and 
'  mummish  massing,'  against  which  the  argument  of 
the  homily  is  directed,  would  appear  to  have  sprung 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


197 


directly  from  the  exaggerations  of  the  writers  who  are 
adduced  as  witnesses  on  the  protestant  side  ! " 

"A  Romanist  may  find  his  advantage  in  almost 
every  instance  in  which,  throughout  the  homilies,  an 
appeal  is  made  against  the  usages  of  his  church  to  the 
ancient  doctors."  * 

*  The  reader  will  be  gratified  with  the  following  forcible  remarks, 
with  which  Mr.  Taylor  closes  his  criticisms  of  the  homilies  : 

"  I  have  adduced  a  sample  only  of  instances  in  illustration  of  the 
mode  in  which  the  compilers  of  the  book  of  homilies  avail  themselves 
of  the  authority  of  ecclesiastical  antiquity,  assumed  to  favor  the  doc- 
trine and  worship  of  the  English  church.  If  the  entire  number  of 
such  citations  was  to  be  analyzed,  I  think  it  would  appear  that,  at  the 
least,  four  fifths  of  them  are  liable  to  some  specific  and  substantial 
exception  :  —  many,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  ground  of  literary  in- 
accuracies ;  or  such  a  want  of  precision  as  betrays  the  practice  of 
quoting  at  secondhand  ;  or  from  some  miscellaneous  repertory,  itself 
carelessly  stocked  ;  or  from  the  unassisted  memory. 

"  More  than  a  few  of  these  faulty  citations  are  derived  from  writings 
glaringly  spurious  ;  and  several  occur  nowhere  in  the  works  of  the 
writers  named. 

"  But  the  most  remarkable  of  these  exceptionable  quotations  are 
those  —  and  we  have  seen  that  many  such  present  themselves  —  in 
which  a  father  is  deliberately  brought  forward  to  give  his  evidence  in 
direct  contrariety  to  his  actual  opinion,  and  to  his  uniform  practice ; 
and  is  thus  made  to  condemn  that  which,  on  the  very  page  referred  to, 
he  most  strenuously  commends. 

"  Now  let  it  be  supposed  that  a  revision,  merely  literary,  of  the  book 
of  homilies  were  judged  to  be  necessary  by  the  authorities  of  the 
church.  Would  not  the  editors  who  might  be  appointed  to  carry  for- 
ward such  a  revision,  think  themselves  absolutely  obliged,  in  the  due 
performance  of  their  task,  to  collate  and  verify  the  entire  mass  of 
quotations  therein  occurring,  from  ancient  authors  ?  If  so,  we  may 
assume  it  as  certain  that  they  would  feel  themselves  compelled  to 
rectify  the  numerous  instances  of  merely  erroneous  reference,  as  to 
book,  chapter  and  treatise.  But  again ;  must  it  not  be  thought  in- 
cumbent upon  them  also  to  note,  or  actually  to  expunge,  quotations 
from  writings  confessedly  spurious  ?  This  also  ought  to  be  granted  ; 
and  then  what  course  should  be  pursued  in  dealing  with  those  fla- 
grant instances  —  instances  which  give  so  much  advantage  to  Ro- 
manists—  wherein  a  use  altogether  unwarrantable  is  made  of  the 
name  and  reputation  of  a  father,  to  disparage  usages  and  notions 
which  he  is  well  kno\vn  to  have  constantly  upheld  and  professed  ?  It 
would  seem  strange  indeed  if,  while  removing  from  the  book  of 
homilies  its  harmless  literary  blemishes,  it  were  still  left  burdened 
with  the  grave  faults  which  nullify  its  cogent  argumentation,  and 
serve  to  embolden  those  whom  it  would  abash ! 

"  We  advance  then  only  one  step  further,  and  imagine  that,  in  the 
room  of  quotations  erroneous,  or  logically  unsound,  there  were  inserted 
17* 


198 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Thus  it  is  seen  that  this  homiletic  appeal  to  these 
idolatrous  fathers  is  fitted,  in  the  very  nature  of  the 

in  these  homilies  some  simple  statements  of  the  meke  historic  fact  : 
That  the  various  errors,  corruptions,  and  superstitions,  on  the  ground 
of  which  the  church  of  Eome  is  so  vehemently  arraigned  as  apostate, 
prevailed  long  before  the  age  of  the  papal  usurpation,  and  may  be 
traced  to  the  '  doctors  and  bishops'  of  the  third  and  fourth  centuries. 

"  We  are  here  supposing  two  things,  both  of  which  it  seems  reason- 
able to  assume,  namely,  that  from  the  formularies  of  the  church,  what 
is  glaringly  false  in  fact  should  be  expunged ;  and  that  what  is  at 
once  true  in  itself,  and  necessary  to  the  argumentative  existence  and 
consistency  of  that  church,  should  be  acknowledged  and  insisted  upon. 

"  But  how  momentous  would  be  the  consequence  of  so  reasonable 
an  expurgation !  For  it  would  then  appear,  not  merely  that  the  church 
of  England  is  protestant  in  its  spirit  and  doctrine  ;  —  for  this  is  mani- 
fest already  ;  —  but  that  it  is  so  consistently  and  harmoniocsly  ! 

"Were  the  formularies  of  the  church  relieved  of  blemishes  — 
which,  in  fact,  ought  to  be  removed,  in  regard  merely  to  the  literary 
reputation  of  so  erudite  a  communion  —  then  would  its  adversaries 
on  either  hand  lose  oil  their  advantage  in  argument :  —  and  more  than 
this,  the  church  would  cease  to  generate,  as  it  has  done,  and  does  at 
this  moment,  an  intestinal  plague  threatening  its  very  life. 

"All  the  seeming,  or  the  real,  strength  of  the  argument  urged  by 
the  present  admirers  of  antiquity,  or  of  the  argument  which  they 
advance  as  members  of  the  church  of  England,  is  derived  from  the 
alleged  fact  that  the  church  itself  leans,  not  merely  upon  Scripture,  but 
upon  antiquity.  Let,  however,  this  'leaning  upon  antiquity '  be  ana- 
lyzed, and  critically  followed  through  its  details,  and  what  is  the  con- 
sequence ?  From  such  a  scrutiny  arises  an  imperative  necessity  for 
rejecting,  almost  in  mass,  this  appeal  to  the  authority  of  the  fathers  ! 

"  If  our  object  at  this  time  were  simply  to  make  good  a  charge  of 
faultiness,  on  several  counts,  against  the  book  of  homilies,  we  might 
be  allowed  to  have  sufficiently  acquitted  our  task.  But  what  we 
intend  is  of  far  more  moment ;  for  we  mean  to  affirm,  that  the  prot- 
estant WIND  of  the  Episcopal  church,  if  disencumbered  of  what,  in  a 
merely  literary  and  logical  sense,  ought  to  be  rejected  and  expunged, 
would  leave  without  even  a  pretext  those  who,  entertaining  a  feeling 
and  opinion  diametrically  opposite,  yet  hold  their  position  within  it, 
and  subscribe  its  formularies. 

"  Although,  by  its  homogeneity  of  style,  its  animation,  its  earnest- 
ness, and  its  force,  the  collection  of  sermons  which  the  church  pro- 
nounces to  contain  '  a  godly  and  wholesome  doctrine '  sustains 
throughout  an  apparent  uniformity  of  intention  —  the  characteristic 
of  consistent  and  mature  minds  —  yet,  when  the  mass  comes  to  be 
more  narrowly  scrutinized,  we  are  compelled  to  admit  that  beneath 
the  surface  two  elements  utterly  incongruous  —  two  principles  forever 
irreconcilable  —  are  forced  into  an  unblessed  combination.  It  is  impossible 
that  any  one  mind,  a  mind  reasonable  and  well  informed,  can  embrace  and 
assent  to  the  tvhole ;  if  the  one  element  be  received,  the  other  by  necessity  is 
rejected." 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


199 


case,  to  do  immense  mischief.  Mr.  Taylor  furnishes 
the  most  ample  documentary  proof  that  the  legendary 

"  The  mere  question  as  to  the  literary  quality  of  the  book  of  homilies 
■we  quite  reject,  as  beside  our  purpose.  But  the  sample  we  have 
given  of  the  monstrous  faultiness  attaching  to  its  citation  of  ancient 
authorities  serves  to  bring  to  view,  in  a  tangible  form,  that  dangerous 
linking  together  of  antagonist  elements  which  is  now  bringing  on  an 
ecclesiastical  revolution. 

"How  little  did  the  venerable  men  —  the  martyrs  of  the  English 
church  —  imagine  what  they  were  doing,  and  what  harvest  for  their 
country  they  were  preparing,  when,  from  a  mistaken  anxiety  to  con- 
ciliate the  adherents  of  the  ancient  idolatry,  they  professed  their  sub- 
mission to  the  very  authors  of  that  idolatry,  and  admitted  into  the 
constitutions  they  formed  the  roots  of  the  ancient  delusion,  and  the  germs 
of  an  after-grorvth  of  polytheism .' 

"  The  first  and  inevitable  consequence  of  thi.s  fatal  mistake  was,  to 
necessitate  the  puritan-protest  against  that  residue  of  deadly  error — 
a  protest  as  fully  justified  as  it  was  nobly  sustained!  Unless  this 
protest  had  been  made  and  perpetuated,  England  would  liave  differed 
nothing  from  Spain ! 

"  The  next  effect,  not  less  inevitable,  has  waited  for  its  development 
to  these  times ;  and  is  now  fast  advancing  towards  its  terrible  crisis  — 
a  religious,  and,  perhaps,  a  civil,  convulsion,  springing  from,  and 
mainly  promoted  by,  the  reckless  determination  of  hierarchs  to  re- 
establish among  us  a  spiritual  despotism. 

"  Elements  essentially  destructive  one  of  the  other  may  long  repose 
in  quiet  juxtaposition,  or  apparent  harmony.  That  is  to  say,  so  long 
as  no  agitation  produces  a  collision  between  them  ;  but  not  an  hour 
longer ;  for,  at  the  moment  when  a  deep  energy  begins  to  heave  the 
mass,  these  antagonist  forces  begin  also  a  counteraction,  which  con- 
tinues and  increases,  until  a  mighty  convulsion  gives  to  the  stronger, 
or  to  the  more  active,  of  the  two,  the  opportunity  to  oust  its  enemy. 

"  The  stir  of  church-principles,  in  the  present  times,  has  just 
imparted  this  expulsive  energy  to  that  element  of  the  ancient  super- 
stition which  the  reformers  left  as  a  lifeless  mass  (so  they  thought) 
about  the  foundation  of  the  church. 

"It  matters  not  as  to  the  issue,  that  this  element  is  adjunctive  —  is 
separable  in  theory  —  is  in  itself  worthless  and  utterly  contemptible  : 
—  IT  IS  THnRE ;  and  it  is  there  where  sappers  and  miners  are  wont 
to  deposit  the  grains  that  shall  mock  earthquakes  the  moment  fire 
reaches  them ! 

"  There  was  a  season  which  passed  over  England  like  an  April  sun- 
shine, when  the  long-cherished  wish  of  many  hearts  to  remove  from 
the  church  the  dangerous  admixture  of  ancient  errors  seemed  not 
unlikely  to  be  accomplished!  But  none  at  that  moment  were  gifted 
with  the  moral  courage,  the  religious  integrity,  and  the  political  wis- 
dom, that  should  have  fitted  them  for  the  task  of  putting  their  hands 
to  so  great  and  good  a  work. 

"  The  consequence  might  have  been  safely  and  surely  predicted  ;  a 
reaction  the  most  natural  ensued ;  and  instantly,  when  all  hope  of 
reform  was  abandoned,  a  new  feeling,  having  in  it  something  of  the 


200 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


theology,  prevailing  at  the  period  of  time  to  which  the 
homilies  send  us  for  instruction,  had,  at  that  very  mo- 
ment, reduced  the  christian  church  to  a  depth  of  super- 
stition and  moral  degradation  lower  than  those  of  the 
heathens  by  whom  it  was  surrounded.  And  yet  this 
is  the  period  of  which  the  homilies  speak  as  "most 
pure  and  uncorrupt,"  and  "  specially  to  be  followed." 
It  is  to  the  fathers  of  this  period,  sunk  in  polytheism, 
and  every  vice,  that  they  send  us,  with  hat  in  hand,  as 
to  "godly  bishops,"  and  "ancient  doctors,"  of  "great 
authority."  Of  so  evil  a  tendency  does  Mr.  Taylor 
regard  this  appeal,  that  he  attributes  to  it,  "  in  great 
measure,"  the  "  many  reactions  towards  Romanism  in 
the  English  church."  And  Mr.  Hallam,  speaking  of 
the  state  of  things  in  the  days  of  Laud,  says,  "  An  ex- 
treme reverence  for  what  they  called  the  primitive 
church  had  been  flie  source  of  all  these  errors."* 

The  "  authority"  of  the  fathers  !  The  very  thought 
makes  the  heart  sick.  Whence  came  the  papal  sys- 
tem 1  Who  were  its  originators  and  authors  7  Who 
stood  like  guides  along  the  road,  not  only  pointing  out 
the  way,  but  themselves  walking  in  it,  and  directing 
the  church  in  its  passage  over  the  track  of  primitive 
time  to  the  city  with  seven  hills  ?  The  fathers  ;  those 
very  fathers  of  whose  antiquity  and  authority  the  hom- 
ilists  make  so  nuich  account.  The  Roman  system, 
with  its  multiplied  abominations,  did  not  take  the 
world  by  surprise,  springing  upon  it  like  the  tiger  upon 
his  prey.  It  was  not  born  at  once,  with  all  its  parts 
entire,  but  was  the  result  of  a  long  and  steady  groioth, 
—  rising  up  in  its  enormous  magnitude  by  little  and 

energy  of  desperation,  came  in  as  a  reaction,  strongly  corroborative 
of  whatever  had  seemed  the  most  questionable  in  the  liturgic  offices. 
Human  affairs  not  unfrequently  present  such  an  aspect  of  sudden 
contrariety." —  Supphment  Ancient  Christianity,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  46  —  52. 
*  Constitutional  Hist,  of  Eng.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  86. 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


201 


little;  taking  into  its  mass  of  unlawful  things  one  un- 
scriptural  ceremony  after  another,  and  fmally,  when 
the  whole  body  was  complete,  putting  on  the  papal 
head.  I  ask  again,  Who  reared  this  enormous  struc- 
ture of  superstition,  carrying  it  up,  age  after  age,  by 
placing  one  stone  upon  it,  and  then  another,  until  the 
papal  cap-stone  was  put  on,  with  the  attendant  shouts 
of  hell  7  And  the  answer  leaps  from  every  page  of 
ancient  history  —  the  fathers  !  They  it  was  who  laid 
the  foundation-stones  on  soil  reclaimed  from  heathen 
possession,  and  with  ceremonies  congenial  Avith  the 
feelings  of  heathen  converts ;  they  who  added  rite  after 
rite,  ceremony  after  ceremony,  superstition  after  super- 
stition; they  who  encouraged,  and  aided,  or  rather 
catised,  the  growth  of  the  papal  system,  until  the  pope 
became  its  only  appropriate,  and  in  fact  its  necessary 
head.  There  must  first  be  popery,  before  there  could 
be  a  pope;  the  papal  system,  before  its  papal  director. 
And  no  man  or  men  can  show  that  anybody  produced 
this  system  except  the  fathers.  It  is,  therefore,  the 
next  thing  to  effrontery  to  claim  for  the  fathers  author- 
ity in  matters  of  faith,  or  indeed  to  defer  to  them  in 
any  manner  whatever.  With  just  the  same  propriety 
we  might  defer  to  the  tractarians.  The  fathers  were 
on  the  way  to  Rome.  They  were  producing  a  system 
which  ended  in  crowning  a  pope.  The  tractarians  are 
doing  the  same,  and  no  more.  I  would  as  soon  follow 
the  one  as  the  other.  It  was  by  deferring  to  the  fathers 
that  the  tractarians  got  where  they  are.  Their  first 
tracts  were  in  harmony  with  the  sentiments  of  the  ear- 
lier fathers.  Their  subsequent  ones  were  exponents 
of  the  opinions  of  later  fathers.  Tract  XC.  brought 
them  into  the  society  and  fellowship  of  the  trideniine 
fathers  ! 

Strange  that  theologians  will  not  cease  from  man ! 


202 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


that  they  will  not  let  alone  the  fathers !  that  they  will 
not  abstain  even  from  appealing  to  the  reformers  !  that 
they  will  not  prove  all  things  by  the  infallible  word  of 
God,  and  consider  that  j)roof  enough  ! 

I  cannot  but  say  here  that  I  have  been  pained  to 
witness,  in  the  late  controversies  with  tractarians,  the 
continual  appeals  of  our  evangelical  writers  to  the  re- 
formers. Among  our  writers  of  any  note,  in  this  coun- 
try, the  Rev.  Dr.  Stone  is  the  only  one  I  can  call  to 
mind  who  has  left  upon  his  pages  the  traces  of  a  clear,' 
settled,  and  resolute  conviction,  that  the  Bible  is  the 
only  rule  of  faith,  and  a  full  purpose  to  assert  its  su- 
premacy, practically  as  well  as  theoretically,  in  the  face 
of  a  confused,  fickle,  and  man-worshipping  generation. 


203 


CHAPTER  III. 

TEACHING  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

The  phrase,  "  teaching  of  the  church,"  has  become 
very  common  of  late ;  and,  considering  the  sense  in 
which  it  is  used,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  one  of 
more  evil  tendency.  What  right  has  the  church  to 
teach'}  Who  has  endowed  it  with  this  prerogative? 
Rome  talks  much  about  an  ecclesia  docens,  or  teaching 
church;  and  this  language,  as  she  uses  it,  has  some 
meaning.  She  means  by  it  the  body  of  bishops  and 
priests,  with  the  pope  at  their  head,  who  are  literally 
authorized  to  teach ;  to  tell  the  people  what  they  shall 
believe  and  do.  But  the  protestant  idea  of  the  church 
includes  the  whole  body  of  the  people,  as  well  as  the 
priests ;  and  it  is  an  absurd  idea  that  themselves,  col- 
lectively, should  be  the  teachers,  and  themselves  singly 
the  taught.  Besides,  the  protestant  idea  I  had  always 
supposed  to  be,  that  the  Bible  and  the  Holy  Spirit  were 
the  christian's  only  teachers.  The  church,  I  had 
thought,  was  the  publisher  of  the  gospel,  not  its  origi- 
nator ;  the  bearer  of  good  news,  not  the  original  promul- 
gator of  it ;  that  her  cry  was.  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
not.  Thus  dccreeth  the  church ;  that  she  brought  a 
message  from  God,  not  a  decree  from  her  own  coun- 
cils. The  church  is  no  teacher — has  no  right  to  teach. 
It  is  taught  itself;  and  what  it  is  taught  it  may  telHo 
others — nay,  it  must  tell  it;  its  own  life  depends  upon 
its  telling  it ;  and  when  it  has  done  this,  it  must  point 
to  the  source  of  its  own  light  and  instruction  as  the 
fountain  of  light  and  instruction  for  its  members.  The 
moment  it  rises  above  this  humble  office  of  publisher 


204 


TEACHING  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


of  good  news,  and  assumes  the  functions  of  teacher, 
that  moment  it  usurps  the  prerogatives  of  God,  and 
thwarts  his  benevolent  purposes  towards  men.  It  is 
disseminating  a  false  doctrine,  therefore,  to  talk  about 
the  teaching  of  the  church.  It  sends  men  to  the  wrong 
source  for  instruction.  It  begets  a  habit  of  attempting 
to  settle  all  controversies  by  an  appeal  to  the  church, 
or  the  primitive  church,  or  the  fathers,  or  the  reform- 
ers, or  the  prayer-book,  or  anything  in  fact,  rather 
than  the  pure  word  of  God.  Such  has  been  the  result 
among  us.  Such  appeals  have  been  constantly  made 
on  both  sides,  during  all  the  tractarian  controversy; 
so  that  a  direct  and  sole  appeal  to  the  Bible  has  become 
exceedingly  rare.  Scarcely  any  writer  seems  to  think 
he  has  proved  anything,  until  he  has  dragged  forward 
some  canon,  or  decree,  or  rubric,  or  article  of  the 
church.  If  the  church  can  be  made  to  speak  in  his 
favor,  he  has  gained  his  point ;  if  not,  he  has  lost  it, 
though  Isaiah,  and  Paul,  and  John,  and  Matthew, 
should  each  furnish  a  score  of  texts  which  are  pat  to 
his  purpose.  Thus  the  word  of  God  is  depreciated, 
and  the  way  is  prepared  for  sinking  it  altogether  out 
of  sight,  and  for  introducing  in  its.stead  the  traditions 
of  men.  If  God's  word  is  a?«?/thing,  it  is  everything; 
if  it  is  not  the  sole  rule  of  faith,  it  is  not  the  rule  of  faith 
at  all.  God  will  not  divide  his  glory  with  another. 
If  men  will  not  take  his  word  and  Spirit  as  their  only 
teachers,  he  will  not  allow  them  to  be  rightly  taught. 
Hence,  when  they  begin  to  resort  to  the  church  for  in- 
struction, he  generally  permits  them  to  be  blinded,  and 
to  be  led  astray. 


205 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HIGH  VIEWS  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 

Nearly  all  the  roots  of  the  ancient  corruption  which 
the  English  reformers  left  in  the  soil,  have  now,  I  be- 
lieve, been  uncovered  and  exposed  to  the  reader;  in 
other  terms,  the  original  causes  of  a  relapse  towards  the 
old  bondage  are  now  chiefly  under  the  reader's  eye — 
all  those  causes,  I  mean,  which  were  left  at  the  refor- 
mation in  the  doctrines  and  formularies  of  the  English 
church.  But  these,  in  due  time,  produced  effects, 
which,  in  their  turn,  acted,  and  still  act,  as  causes ; 
and  in  some  instances  are  more  active  than  many  of 
the  original  causes,  though  not  found  in  the  homilies, 
the  prayer-book,  or  the  articles. 

Among  these  causes  of  later  origin,  may  be  men- 
tioned, as  particularly  prominent,  high  views  of  the 
ministry.  These  have  grown  out  of  high  views  of  the 
sacraments. 

Ever  since  the  reformation,  two  antagonistic  views 
have  been  taken  of  the  sacraments.  One,  the  protes- 
tant  view,  represents  them  as  "two  simple,  outward 
rites,  constituted  by  divine  appointment,  to  be,  in  the 
practice  of  the  church,  the  expression  or  profession,  on 
our  part,  of  the  possession  of  an  inward  spiritual  grace, 
which  we  have  divinely  received, — or  of  our  desire  for 
spiritual  gifts,  which  are  to  be  divinely  bestowed;"* 
the  other,  the  Roman  view,  represents  them  as  the 
sources  of  divine  life  in  the  soul,  and  the  channels  for 
conveying  the  grace  needed  for  its  continuance  and 


*  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng's  Simplicity  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

18 


206  HIGH  VIEWS  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 

growth.  This  latter  view  being  taken,  the  sacraments 
become  the  germinant  points  from  whicii  springs  a 
system  that  reverses  the  whole  order  of  the  christian 
economy.  Under  this  scheme,  grace  is  no  longer 
sought  and  obtained  ;  it  is  first  prepared  by  the  priest, 
and  then  conveyed.  The  participator  in  a  sacrament 
no  longer  takes  it  as  a  token  of  the  life  which  has  been 
already  received  directly  from  Christ;  but  it  either 
conveys  life  to  the  soul,  as  is  affirmed  of  baptism,  or, 
as  is  alleged  of  the  supper,  strengthens  a  life  already 
imparted.  Salvation  no  longer  hangs  suspended  upon 
faith,  and  repentance  and  prayer,  and  a  holy  life  ;  but 
upon  a  constant  and  devout  receiving  of  the  sacra- 
ments. Out  of  this  view  logical  errors  grow  somewhat 
in  this  order. 

1.  That  some  change  is  produced  in  the  elements 
of  bread  and  wine  in  the  supper,  and  of  the  water  in 
baptism ;  for  it  is  very  plain  that  bread  and  Avine  and 
water  can  do  nothing  for  the  soul  in  their  natural  state. 
In  order  to  impart  a  new  and  divine  life  to  the  soul,  or  to 
invigorate  a  life  already  given,  they  must  be  made  alive 
themselves;  and  in  order  that  they  may  impart  a  spir- 
itual life,  the  life  with  which  they  are  endowed  must 
be  spiritual.  In  a  word,  they  must  be  infused  with  the 
Spirit,  or  spiritually  changed  into  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ. 

2.  The  sacraments  being  thus  made  the  sources  and 
the  supports  of  spiritual  life,  and  the  necessary  infer- 
ence being  drawn  from  it  that  a  spiritual  change 
takes  place  in  the  elements, — a  logical  necessity  is  cre- 
ated for  a  priesthood^— noi  for  pastors  and  teachers,  but 
{or  priests, — men  to  offer  the  sacrifice.  For  if  grace  is 
no  longer  obtained  directly  from  Christ  in  answer  to 
prayer,  if  the  hfe  and  the  health  of  the  soul  comes  only 
through  the  sacraments,  and  if  these  are  efficacious 


HIGH  VIEWS  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 


207 


only  when  there  is  a  change  in  the  elements,  then  there 
is  absolute  need  of  a  class  of  men  Avith  power  to  work 
the  mysterious  change  in  them,  to  endow  them  with 
the  precious  boon  of  life,  which  they  are  to  convey  to 
dead  or  languishing  souls. 

3.  Then  comes  the  necessity  of  a  still  more  mis- 
chievous error.  The  priest,  thus  endowed  with  the 
supernatural  power  of  working  a  change  in  bread,  and 
wine,  and  water,  is  in  possession  of  a  gift  Avhich  no 
man  can  possibly  have  who  has  not  been  set  apart  to 
the  priesthood  in  his  particular  way  and  manner.  The 
persons,  therefore,  who  thus  endowed  him,  namely, 
the  bishops,  are  essential  to  the  being  of  the  church. 
The  priest,  also,  becomes  absolutely  essential.  For  as 
there  is  no  life  for  the  soul  without  the  sacraments,  and 
no  life-giving  sacraments  without  a  change  in  the  ele- 
ments, and  no  change  in  the  elements  without  the  exer- 
cise of  the  miraculous  power  of  the  priest;  then  the 
priest  who  possesses  this  miraculous  power  must  be 
retained,  or  the  soul  will  infallibly  be  lost.  This  puts 
the  salvation  of  the  soul  entirely  into  the  hands  of  the 
priest ;  it  gives  him  the  poAver  to  infuse  the  gift  of  eter- 
nal life  into  bread,  and  wine,  and  water,  and  then  to 
confer  it  at  such  time,  in  such  measure,  on  such  terms, 
and  upon  such  individuals,  and  such  only,  as  he  will. 
And  here  is  completed  a  system  of  unmixed  spiritual 
despotism.  For  the  priest,  holding  in  his  hand  the 
boon  of  eternal  life,  offers  it  to  such  only  as  yield  him  a 
willing,  uncomplaining,  and  constant  obedience.  From 
such  as  resist  his  will,  he  withholds  the  sacraments, 
and  thus  closes  against  them  the  gate  of  heaven. 

4.  Not  only  does  a  spiritual  despotism  grow  out  of 
the  above  premises,  but  there  shoots  off  in  another 
direction,  from  this  thrifty  sacramental  tree,  the  spread- 
ing branch  of  "  apostolic  succession."    For  those  bish- 


208  HIGH  VIEWS  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 

ops  and  priests,  endowed  with  miraculous  gifts  for 
working  mysterious  changes  in  material  things,  must 
receive  their  endowments  from  their  miraculously 
endowed  predecessors ;  not  merely  their  power  of 
government,  but  their  power  to  elaborate — so  to  speak 
— and  then  to  convey  grace ;  a  power  on  which 
depend  the  validity  and  virtue  of  all  sacramental  and 
ministerial  acts  ;  a  power  without  which  no  man  can 
validly  administer  the  sacraments,  or  perform  other 
clerical  functions.  Hence  follow  the  dogmas,  not  only 
of  "  No  bishop,  no  church ;"  but,  especially.  No  bishop, 
no  valid  ministry ;  and  no  valid  ministry,  no  life-im- 
parting sacraments ;  and  no  life-imparting  sacraments, 
no  salvation.  These  sequences  grow  necessarily  out 
of  each  other,  and  are  linked  together  as  with  hooks 
of  steel,  so  that  the  strongest  dialectician  has  not  the 
power  to  force  them  asunder. 

Some  may  think  it  a  merely  fanciful  idea  that  high 
notions  in  regard  to  the  sacraments  lead  to  high  and 
exclusive  views  of  the  ministry.  Regarding  this 
merely  as  a  philosophical  question,  I  would  not  pre- 
tend to  say  that  such  is  the  only  way  in  which  a 
false  estimate  of  clerical  character  and  powers  can  be 
induced ;  but  I  do  affirm  that  it  can  be  induced  very 
philosophically  in  this  way ;  and  it  can,  in  fact,  be 
historically  verified  that  this  has  been  the  order  in 
which  the  false  views  spoken  of  have  made  their 
appearance  in  the  English  church.  For  a  long  time 
after  the  reformation,  high  views  of  the  ministry  were 
almost  unknown  among  English  Episcopalians;  nor 
were  they  embraced  to  any  considerable  extent,  until 
preceded  by  a  false  estimate  of  the  sacraments ;  and 
any  upward  tendency  of  opinions  in  regard  to  the 
priesthood  has,  at  every  period  in  the  history  of  that 
church,  and  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  the 


HIGH  VIEWS  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 


209 


United  States,  been  preceded  by  a  corresponding  upward 
movement  of  opinions  in  regard  to  the  sacraments. 

The  reader  may  find  a  confirmation  of  this  remark, 
by  caUing  to  mind  the  fact  that,  in  the  reign  of  queen 
Aime,  1702,  the  lower  house  of  convocation,  having 
fallen  into  some  dispute  with  the  bishops,  and  fearing 
that  they  should  be  suspected  of  favoring  presbytery, 
passed  a  resolution  that  episcopacy  was  of  divine 
right.  But  when  the  proposition  was  sent  up  to  the 
bishops,  they  declined  to  sanction  it ;  notwithstanding 
the  knoAvn  determination  of  the  lower  house  to  charge 
them  with  favoring  presbytery,  in  case  they  declined. 
They  raised  a  dispute  on  that  point,  which  finally 
divided  the  clergy ;  and  out  of  this  contention  arose 
the  terms  high  and  loio  church.* 

So  necessarily  do  high  views  of  the  sacraments  tend 
to  exalt  the  priestly  office,  that  Burnet  says,t  "  After 
the  schoolmen  fell  to  examine  matters  of  divinity  with 
logical  and  unintelligible  niceties,  and  the  canonists 
began  to  comment  upon  the  rules  of  the  ancient 
church,  they  studied  to  make  bishops  and  priests  seem 
very  near  one  another,  so  that  the  difference  was  but 
small.  They  did  it  with  different  designs  ;  the  school- 
men, having  set  up  the  grand  mystery  of  transubstan- 
tiation,  were  to  exalt  the  priestly  office  as  much  as 
possible;  for  the  turning  the  host  into  God  was  so 
great  an  action,  that  they  reckoned  there  could  be  no 
office  higher  than  that  which  qualified  a  man  to  so 
mighty  a  j)erformance ;  therefore,  as  they  changed  the 
form  of  ordination  from  what  it  was  anciently  believed 
to  consist  in,  to  a  delivering  of  the  sacred  vessels,  and 
held  that  a  priest  had  his  orders  by  that  rite,  and  not 
by  the  imposition  of  hands  ;  so  they  raised  their  ofl5.ce 

*  Burnet's  Own  Times,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  346,  347. 
t  Addenda  Hist.  Ref.;  vol.  1. 
18* 


210 


HIGH  VIEWS  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 


SO  high  as  to  make  it  equal  with  the  order  of  a 
bishop." 

The  reader  cannot  fail  to  see  the  force  of  this 
historic  fact.  So  necessarily  did  exalted  notions  of  the 
sacraments  engender  extraordinary  claims  in  behalf  of 
priestly  power,  that  the  wide  distinction  which  had 
long  been  maintained  between  bishops  and  priests 
shrunk,  under  the  necessary  pressure  of  this  idea,  in 
the  acute  and  logical  minds  of  the  schoolmen,  to  a 
point,  and  actually  disappeared. 

In  this  case,  as  in  many  others,  that  which  was  at 
first  only  an  effect,  being  once  produced,  becomes 
itself  a  cause,  and  reacts  towards  the  cause  which  pro- 
duced it ;  and,  as  its  legitimate  effect,  increases  the 
activity  and  power  of  that  cause.  High  and  exclusive 
views  of  the  ministry  induce  still  higher  views  of  the 
sacraments.  When  a  certain  class  of  clergy  get  to  be 
the  only  dispensers  of  gospel  ordinances,  then  these 
ordinances  become,  if  they  were  not  before,  the  only 
channels  of  divine  grace.  And  thus,  by  a  vicious 
action  and  reaction,  the  evils  of  an  erroneous  system 
are  increased. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Stone,  in  his  great  work  on  the 
"  Universal  Church,"  has  furnished  an  invincible 
array  of  testimony,  showing  that  the  earlier  English 
divines  did  not  entertain  high  views  of  the  ministry, 
and  especially,  that  their  opinions  were  not  tinctured 
with  a  particle  of  exclusiveness.  So  abundant  is  the 
evidence  he  has  furnished  on  this  point,  that,  though 
it  might  be  increased,  it  could  not  be  made  more  satis- 
factory. 

The  reader  may  be  ready  here  to  propound  to  me 
the  question — Why,  if  the  reformers  "  left  an  element 
of  the  ancient  corruption  about  the  foundation  of  the 
church;"  in  other  words,  if  their  minds  were  not 


HIGH  VIEWS  OF  THE  MINISTRY.  211 

purged  of  superstitious  views  of  the  sacraments,  why 
did  they  not  embrace  the  logical  results  of  these 
opinions,  namely,  high  and  exclusive  views  of  the 
ministry  1 

There  were  several  reasons  why  they  did  not.  In 
the  first  place,  they  were  themselves  charged  with 
not  having  a  valid  ministry  by  the  Roman  church ; 
and  with  that  charge  pressed  upon  them  by  so  pow- 
erful a  body,  and  in  so  offensive  and  dogmatic  a 
way,  they  had  very  little  disposition  to  imitate  so 
unlovely  an  example,  by  turning  to  their  neighbors, 
and  making  the  same  proud  assumptions,  and  urg- 
ing the  same  offensive  charges  against  them.  In 
the  second  place,  the  protestants  of  Europe  were  then 
but  a  handful  of  faithful  men,  who  had  come  out 
of  great  darkness,  and  were  liable  at  any  moment  to 
be  crushed  imder  the  iron  wheels  of  both  civil  and 
religious  despotisms.  While  they  exercised  a  firm 
reliance  upon  God,  they  still  felt  the  need  of  encour- 
agement and  support  from  each  other.  The  English 
churchmen,  therefore,  cultivated  the  friendship  of  con- 
tinental protestants.  In  the  third  place,  the  reformers 
of  England  received  not  a  little  advice  and  assistance 
from  the  continental  reformers  in  framing  our  articles 
of  religion.  These  causes  all  acting  upon  their  minds 
together,  prevented  the  development  in  their  minds  of 
the  natural  results  of  the  sacramentarian  notions  of 
which  they  had  not  wholly  rid  themselves.  But  the 
moment  the  offensive  accusation  of  the  Roman  church 
began  to  be  unheeded,  and  the  several  sections  of  the 
protestant  army  to  feel  competent  to  fight  its  battles 
alone,  and  the  favors  of  the  continental  reformers  to  be 
forgotten  ;  ihe?i  the  leaven  began  to  work ;  then  altars 
no  longer  stood  isolated  and  alone,  but  priests  appeared 
before  them,  and  affirmed  their  exclusive  right  to  offer 
the  sacrifice. 


212 


CHAPTER  V. 

TYRANNIZING  HIGH  CHURCHISM. 

The  force  of  the  present  evil  teiideircy  of  our  sys- 
tem is  greatly  enhanced  by  certain  customs  among  us 
which  are  tyrannous  beyond  measure ;  customs  which, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  tend  to  destroy  all  manly  freedom, 
and  to  introduce  the  habit  of  a  blind  following  of 
such  leaders  as  happen  to  be  in  high  and  honored 
places. 

At  about  the  period  when  the  influence  of  the 
"  Tracts  for  the  Times"  began  to  be  felt  in  this  country, 
there  appeared  somewhat  suddenly,  among  Episcopa- 
lians in  New  England,  a  kind  of  general  feeling  that 
the  outward  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  church  had 
been  a  little  too  much  neglected ;  and  that  a  more 
exact  and  earnest  attention  to  them  would  give  to  our 
Zion  a  more  divine  and  heavenly  beauty.  Confessions 
of  neglect  and  short-comings  in  this  behalf  were  heard 
on  every  hand,  and  stragglings  after  a  more  exact 
conformity  to  ritual  observances  were  noticeable  in 
various  quarters.  The  church,  the  churcli,  began  to 
be  the  watchword,  and  right  earnestly  the  watchmen 
rung  it  from  the  walls  of  Zion.  It  Avas  heard  from  the 
pulpit ;  it  was  heard  through  the  press.  Every  editor 
must  make  it  prominent  in  his  articles,  or  be  censured 
as  a  puritan,  and  wanting  in  churchmanship.  Men 
of  fancy  had  only  to  rack  their  brains  and  invent  some 
phrase  or  aphorism,  which  gave  a  remarkable  and 
apposite  prominence  to  '■^  the  church,''''  and  straightway 
it  was  heard  from  half  our  pulpits,  became  a  part  of 
every  true  churchman's  colloquial  furniture,  and  soon 


TYRANNIZING  HIGH  CHURCHISM. 


213 


even  found  itself  conspicuously  and  quietly  seated,  as 
a  motto,  at  the  head  of  some  two  or  three  religious  jour- 
nals !  And  when  a  clergyman  was  found,  who  did 
not  pronounce  this  shibboleth  with  sufficient  frequency, 
I  need  not  say  how  gossip  caught  up  the  rumor,  and 

ran  with  it  from  mouth  to  mouth,  that  Mr.  was 

not  a  sound  churchman. 

It  is  well  known,  that,  in  a  short  time,  under  this 
state  of  things,  usages  and  modes  of  speech  were 
introduced,  entirely  unknown  to  the  canons  or  the 
rubrics,  which  it  was  disreputable,  and  almost  as  much 
as  one's  character  was  worth,  to  disregard.  Amid  the 
general  shout  of,  "  The  temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple 
of  the  Lord  are  these,"  many  were  terrified  and  awed 
into  submission;  more  were  charmed  and  delighted 
with  the  gaudy  robes  of  the  heavenly  bride,  as  she 
swept  back  and  forth  before  their  excited  imagina- 
tions ;  and  still  more  were  confused  by  the  new  and 
tumultuous  shouts,  and  were  hurried  on,  they  knew 
not  whither.  Ministers  began  to  explain  from  the 
pulpit  the  "principles  of  the  church,"  and  to  get  up 
courses  of  lectures,  not  only  to  explain,  but  to  laud  and 
magnify,  "our  excellent  liturgy."*  "  The  wisdom 
of  our  church"  became  a  phrase  of  such  frequent  use, 
that  many  really  seemed  to  think  that  wisdom  would 
perish  from  the  earth  if  that  church  should  be  pros- 
trated.   "  A  good  churchman"  became  far  more  talked 

*  The  practice  of  explaining  and  praising  the  liturgy,  and  ex- 
pounding "  the  principles  of  the  church,"  by  courses  of  lectures,  I 
have  seen  adopted  in  several  country  churches  ;  and  in  no  instance, 
within  my  knowledge,  has  the  effect  been  other  than  a  serious  injury 
to  the  parish.  It  has,  in  every  instance,  lowered  the  standard  of  vital 
piety,  thinned  the  congregation,  increased  the  prejudices  of  the  com- 
munity against  the  Episcopal  church,  originated  disputes  on  topics 
which  the  people  had  previously  thought  nothing  about,  and  has 
generally  ended  in  raising  up  some  three  or  four  sturdy  churchmen, 
who  have  thenceforward  acted  as  faithful  sentinels,  by  guarding  every 
avenue  to  the  church,  and  driving  back  the  people. 


214 


TYRANNIZING  HIGH  CHUKCHISM. 


of,  and  apparently  more  esteemed,  than  a  good  chris- 
tian. "The  church"  once  more  became  the  holy 
"wzo^Aer"  of  all  the  faithful;  and  hence,  not  only 
afforded  nourishment  for  all  her  children,  but  became 
their  teacher ;  in  short,  she  became,  practically,  all  in 
all  to  them.  Then,  too,  we  began  to  hear  about  "  the 
gospel  in  the  church,'"*  and  "the  church  in  the  gos- 
pel;" "  the  church  as  a  shelter  to  flee  to;"  the  church 
as  conservative  of  all  that  is  valuable  in  the  world. 

This  latter  idea  has  been  particularly  dwelt  upon ; 
and  "  the  church"  has  been  lauded  as  a  secure  retreat 
from  the  alleged  loose  theology  and  loose  government 
of  those  denominations  which  reject  episcopacy.  So 
much  has  this  idea  been  fostered,  that  it  has  become  a 
mark  of  churchmaiiship  to  be  particularly  clear  on  this 
point ;  and  so  strong  is  the  desire  of  many  now  to 
maintain  an  irreproachable  character  for  maintaining 
church  principles,  that  they  have  not  the  moral  courage 
to  deal  a  manly  blow  at  Rome,  without  at  the  same 
time  making  a  petulant  thrust  at  Geneva.  Forms  of 
speech  which  express  this  thrusting  in  two  directions 
have  become  so  common,  that  they  meet  us  in  many 
of  our  convention  sermons  and  leading  newspaper 
articles ;  and  many  of  those  who  use  them,  if  called  to 
announce  them  suddenly,  would  be  at  no  more  loss 
than  in  pronouncing  the  benediction.  Their  stereo- 
typed forms  seem,  to  be  varied  only  by  the  different 
metals  in  which  they  are  cast.  Those  who  are  fond 
of  indistinctness  will  form  them  somewhat  after  this 
fashion:  "We  hope  it  will  ever  be  the  happiness  of 
our  church  to  pursue  the  middle  way  between  Rome 
on  the  one  hand,  and  Geneva  on  the  other."    One  who 

♦When  men  begin  with  taking  particular  pains  to  see  that  the 
gospel  is  in  the  church,  they  generally  end  with  turning  the  key  upon 
It,  and  making  it  a  prisoner  for  life. 


TYRANNIZING  HTfiH  CHTIKCHISM. 


215 


has  a  little  more  distinctness  in  his  composition,  and  a 
considerable  suaviter  in  modo,  will  give  them  some- 
thing like  the  following  rotundity  and  fairness  of 
exterior:  "May  the  venerable  communion,  to  which 
it  is  our  happiness  to  belong,  ever  preserve  that  even 
balance  of  doctrine  and  discipline  for  which  it  has 
been  so  long  distinguished;  protesting  firmly  against 
the  errors  of  the  papal  church  on  the  one  side,  and 
avoiding  those  extremes  into  which  some  of  our 
brethren  of  other  denominations  have  unhappily  run 
on  the  other."  While  another,  who  has  a  little  more 
force  and  acerbity  of  temper,  rings  them  out  somewhat 
in  this  manner:  "  It  will  be  a  sad  day  for  us  when 
the  venerable  church  of  our  choice  ceases  to  protest 
alike  against  the  damning  heresies  of  Rome  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  pestilent  and  schismatical  fanaticisms 
of  Geneva  on  the  other."  If  those  who  patronize  this 
folly  could  offer  the  Scottish  bard's  simple  prayer, 
and  receive  answer  to  it, — 

"  0  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us, 
To  see  oursels  as  ithers  see  us," — 

we  are  sure  they  would  forsake  it  at  once.  So  strong 
has  its  influence  become,  however,  that  few  seem  to 
be  endowed  with  the  moral  courage  to  withstand  it; 
and  hence  the  majority  are  carried  along,  step  by  step, 
in  an  upward  direction,  magnifying  the  church  in  this 
particular  and  in  that,  placing  it  in  the  foreground  of 
every  picture  drawn  for  public  inspection,  and  in 
various  ways  drawing  the  attention  of  others  to  the 
irreproachable  character  of  their  churchmanship.  So 
fanatical  had  this  spirit  become  several  years  since, 
that  episcopal  institutions,  periodicals,  (fee.,  had  to  be 
labelled  with  denominational  letters,  that  all  men  might 
know  at  a  glance  to  whom  and  what  they  belonged, 


216 


TYRANNIZING  HIGH  CHURCHISM. 


and  that  they  had  a  character  distinct  and  distinguish- 
able from  anything  "  disseitiing"  and  sectarian.  The 
paper  long  known  under  the  beautiful  name  of  Chris- 
iia?i  Witness,  and  which  was  at  first  contented  to  be 
simply  a  witness  for  Christ,  was  now  filled  with  an 
irrepressible  desire  to  speak  also  for  "the  chi/rch,"  and 
would  thenceforward  be  known  as  the  "Christian 
Witness  and  Church  Advocate."  The  institution  of 
learning  at  Hartford,  which  had  borne  the  patriotic 
title  of  Washington  College,  could  be  satisfied  with 
this  no  longer,  and,  like  some  whimsical  individuals, 
applied  to  the  legislature  for  another  name,  taking  the 
more  church-like  title  of  Trinity  College. 

In  this  way,  high  churchism  has  been  gradually 
advancing,  and  the  moral  power  of  resisting  it  has 
diminished  in  the  same  proportion.  The  relative  dis- 
tance between  the  parties  of  high  and  low  is  indeed 
about  the  same  that  it  was  some  years  since,  but  both 
parties  have  advanced  in  one  direction.  The  Hobart- 
ism  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  has  become  the 
Puseyism  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven;  and 
the  New  England  low  churchism  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirty-five  has  travelled  upward  in  the  same 
direction,  and,  with  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven  has  taken  its  stand, 
—  or  rather,  I  might  say,  is  passing  across  the  Hobart 
platform.  The  New  York  Churchman  was  not  so 
high  church  in  its  tone  twelve  years  ago  as  the  Chris- 
tian Witness  and  Church  Advocate  now  is.  Let  any 
man  bring  me  the  little  flying  "  Banner  of  the 
Church,"  conducted  in  this  city  fourteen  years  ago, 
by  the  present  bishop  Doane,  and  Dr.  William  Cros- 
well,  and  show  me  its  high  churchism;  I  will  find 
him  column  for  column,  nay  two  for  one,  on  the  pages 
of  the  Witness,  of  the  same  kind  of  matter,  only  a  little 


TYRANNIZING  HIGH  CHURCHISM.  217 

more  assumptive.  Fifteen  years  ago,  one  half  the 
clergy  in  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  omitted,  for 
the  purpose  of  shortening  the  service,  the  litany  occa- 
sionally, and  the  ante-communion  service  habitually. 
Now  their  churchmanship  would  not  be  worth  a  straw 
unless  both  Avere  read  every  Sunday.  Now,  not  one 
of  them  dares  venture  on  even  an  occasional  omission, 
though  many  of  them  are  physically  vinfit  to  endure 
the  tedious  recitation.  To  venture  on  such  an  omis- 
sion would  bring  against  them  the  accusation —  "  He 
is  no  churchman ;"  a  kind  of  moral  martyrdom  which 
none  of  them  like  to  endure.  Scores  of  things  are 
approved  among  us  now,  which  suddenly  introduced 
ten  years  ago,  would  have  caused  a  revoluiion.  The 
beginning  is  always  gradual;  at  first  alarm,  and  a 
little  opposition,  then  acquiescence,  then  approval. 
Two  years  ago,  when  the  respected  bishop  of  this  dio- 
cese took  his  bold  stand  in  reference  to  the  church  of 
the  Advent,  I  had  hope  that  the  high  church  progress 
would  be  arrested  in  this  quarter ;  but  the  evangelical 
clergy  did  not  stand  by  him.  They  began  soon  to  find 
fault  that  he  carried  the  matter  too  far,  because  he 
refused  to  admit  to  his  pulpit  those  who  encouraged 
the  Advent.  And  now  he  is  virtually  crushed.  He 
thought  nearly  all  the  clergy  were  with  him  in  that 
matter,  but  it  turned  out  otherwise.  Nearly  half  the 
clerical  votes  in  this  diocese  were  cast,  at  the  last  con- 
vention, for  the  rector  of  the  Advent,  as  a  member  of 
the  standing  committee.  In  two  years  from  this  time, 
Mr.  Croswell,  I  think  it  may  be  safely  predicted,  will 
be  in  better  standing  in  this  diocese  than  he  ever  was ; 
and  should  I  live  ten  years,  it  certainly  would  not  sur- 
prise me  to  see  half  the  clergy  in  the  diocese  of  Massa- 
chusetts following  his  example,  by  reading  the  psalter 
and  offering  the  prayers  with  their  backs  to  the  people. 
19 


218 


TYRANNIZING  HIGH  CHURCHISM. 


None  of  them  will  ever  imitate  his  rash  experiment  of 
wheeling  entirely  round  at  once ;  but  it  will  not  be 
marvellous  to  see  them  going  half  way  rotind  at  first, 
after  the  prudent  manner  of  the  rector  of  St.  Stephen's 
Free  Chapel. 

The  high  churchism  of  the  Hobart  stamp  has  been 
a  source  of  great  mischief  in  our  denomination.  It  has 
in  it  all  the  elements  of  an  aftergrowth  of  tractarian- 
ism;  and  can  fail  to  be  developed  into  this  only  in 
those  minds  in  which  either  the  opposing  principles  of 
the  gospel  are  deeply  imbedded,  or  logical  activity  is 
sadly  deficient.  That  class  of  men  who  call  them- 
selves Hobart  churchmen  are  doing  as  much  injury  in 
our  church  just  now  as  any  other  class  whatever. 
There  is  also  a  class  of  newspapers  of  the  same  stamp, 
of  which  the  Calendar,  published  at  Hartford,  is  a  fair 
representative.  These  men,  and  these  publications, 
are,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  tractarian.  Their 
whole  current  of  thought  and  remark,  so  far  as  they 
fail  to  conceal  it,  is  seen  at  a  glance  to  be  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Rome.  They  hold  and  teach,  virtually,  the  doc- 
trine of  an  indefectible,  visible  church ;  infallibly  and 
authoritatively  teaching  the  meaning  of  God's  word; 
the  doctrine  of  sacramental  grace,  conveyed  through 
an  apostolic  succession,  through  baptism,  through  the 
Lord's  supper,  through  confirmation,  and  the  like. 
And  yet  these  men  and  these  journals,  because  they 
stoutly  declare  themselves  not  tractarian,  are  httle 
guarded  against,  and,  on  the  whole,  are  looked  upon 
as  only  somewhat  high  in  their  notions,  but  in  no 
maimer  dangerous. 


219 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FALLING  BACK  IN  TIMES  OF  TRIAL. 

Any  attempted  tyranny  of  high  churchism  would  be 
harmless,  were  it  not  for  the  frailty  which  fails  to  stand 
unabashed  in  its  presence.  The  vicious  habit  which 
some  fall  into,  of  praising  the  liturgy  to  excess,  would 
do  no  harm  if  others  had  independence  enough  to  ab- 
stain from  following  their  example.  It  is  not  the  high 
churchism  of  high  churchmen,  but  the  high  church- 
ism of  the  low  churchmen,  which  does  the  mischief. 
It  is  the  aping  of  high  church  practices  on  the  part  of 
low  churchmen,  and  the  extreme  timidity  of  the  latter, 
which  induces  them  to  yield  to  the  former  whenever 
the  progress  of  ecclesiastical  events  brings  on  a  conflict 
,  of  antagonistic  elements. 

I  have  for  the  last  fifteen  years  been  an  attentive 
observer  of  church  matters  in  New  England,  and  have 
been  particularly  interested  in  the  several  emergencies 
when  principles  have  been  at  stake,  and  when,  conse- 
quently, there  has  been  an  especial  call  for  firmness  on 
the  part  of  evangelical  men ;  and  I  am  quite  within 
the  limits  of  fact  when  I  say,  our  Zion  has  not  come 
out  of  one  of  these  conflicts  but  with  the  banner  of  her 
churchmanship  lifted  higher ;  in  a  word,  low  church- 
men have  invariably  lost  ground,  and  lost  it  through 
the  moral  cowardice  of  some  of  their  leaders.  They 
have  failed  to  stand  firm  and  resist,  when  the  truth 
was  in  danger.  They  have  had  so  strong  a  desire  for 
peace,  that  they  have  seemed  to  forget  that  this  is  a 
state  of  warfare  and  of  strife,  and  that  unmixed  peace  is 
to  be  found  only  in  heaven.    Losing  sight  of  the  duty 


220  FALLING  BACK  IN  TIMES  OF  TRIAL. 

of  contending  for  the  faith,  they  have  formed  com- 
promises with  their  opponents,  and  accepted  a  policy, 
many  times,  which  their  own  judgment  condemned, 
for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  strife.  It  has  been  painful 
to  witness  these  vacillating  acts,  for  they  have  been 
calculated  to  crush  all  moral  courage  and  manly  feel- 
ing, and  to  deaden  apprehensions  of  vital  truth,  since 
they  practically  make  that  of  little  moment,  which, 
theoretically,  is  declared  to  be  all-important. 

Two  instances  in  the  history  of  our  church,  in  each 
of  which  the  conflict  of  great  principles  has  induced 
a  crisis,  and  in  which  high  church  principles  have 
gained  their  accustomed  advantage,  will  illustrate  these 
remarks. 

In  February,  1838,  the  Rt.  Rev.  bishop  Stone,  of 
Maryland,  was  taken  to  his  reward  by  death.  For 
two  years  and  a  half  the  episcopate  of  the  diocese 
over  which  he  presided  remained  vacant,  though,  if  I 
have  not  been  misinformed,  the  friends  of  evangelism 
had  it  in  their  power,  at  any  moment,  to  have  elected' 
as  his  successor  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Johns,  now  the 
popular  and  much  esteemed  assistant  bishop  of  Vir- 
ginia. Several  incipient  measures  were  taken  towards 
an  election,  but  they  resulted  in  nothing,  because  the 
high  church  party  were  resolved  to  fight  for  every  inch 
of  ground,  rather  than  permit  the  elevation  to  the  epis-  ' 
copal  office  of  one  so  decidedly  evangelical  in  his 
views.  At  length  the  low  church  party,  tired  of  the 
threats  of  their  opponents,  and  anxious  to  secure  peace 
on  any  terms  which  would  leave  an  equal  chance  for 
the  preservation  of  truth,  consented  to  a  compromise, 
which  resulted  in  taking  the  Rev.  Dr.  Whittingham, 
who  had  been  recently  engaged  in  some  incidental 
controversies  with  Dr.  Seabury,  and  who,  they  hoped, 
was  moderate  in  his  views,  and  would,  at  least,  put  no 


FALLING  BACK  IN  TIMES  OF  TRIAL. 


221 


obstacles  in  the  way  of  spreading  evangelical  truth 
through  the  diocese.  In  fact,  for  the  sake  of  present 
peace,  they  consented  to  take  a  man  who  was  not 
their  choice,  and  whom  they  regarded  as  far  less  likely 
to  employ  his  influence  and  his  talents  on  the  side  of 
truth. 

Now  what  right  had  they  thus  to  put  the  interests 
of  the  gospel  in  jeopardy?  Where  did  they  learn  the 
expediency  of  purchasing  a  present  and  temporary 
peace  at  the  expense  of  so  great  a  hazard  7  Who  em- 
powered them  to  make  a  barter  trade  with  their  oppo- 
nents, and  to  sell,  in  the  best  view  of  the  case,  one 
half  the  chances  for  preserving  a  pure  gospel  among 
them,  for  a  little  freedom  from  care  and  anxiety,  and 
a  release  from  the  trouble  of  fighting  the  good  fight  of 
faith  I  I  say  temporary  peace ;  for  such  it  has  proved. 
The  man  whom  they  took  with  the  hope  that  he 
would  do  nothing  to  injure  the  truth,  if  he  did  nothing 
to  advance  it,  has  become  a  high  tractarian,  and  is  at 
this  moment  attempting  to  place  his  foot  upon  their 
necks,  and  to  make  them  his  vassals,  and  has  already 
procured  a  decision  by  an  ecclesiastical  court  in  favor 
of  inherent  episcopal  powers. 

Another  case,  equally  mortifying  in  its  results,  is 
the  election  to  the  episcopal  office  of  the  Rev.  Horatio 
Southgate,  as  a  missionary  bishop  to  reside  at  Constan- 
tinople. 

Mr.  Southgate,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  sent  by 
our  church,  some  years  since,  on  an  exploring  expedi- 
tion through  Persia,  with  a  view  to  missionary  opera- 
tions in  that  direction,  should  the  providence  of  God 
open  the  way.  After  some  two  or  three  years'  ab- 
sence, he  returned  to  this  country  with  a  fund  of 
useful  information,  which  he  published  in  two  vol- 
umes. He  was  subsequently  sent  to  Constantinople, 
19* 


222  FALLING  BACK  IN  TIMES  OF  TRIAL. 

clothed  with  a  kind  of  ecclesiastical  plenipotentiary 
power  for  opening  friendly  negotiations,  or  forming 
treaties  of  amity  with  the  decayed  oriental  churches  in 
that  neighborhood.  The  degree  of  corruption  of  doc- 
trine and  practice  which  had  ci-ept  into  those  churches 
seems  not  at  that  time  to  have  been  very  generally 
known  in  this  country,  and  the  exact  line  of  duty 
which  it  would  be  necessary  for  Mr.  Southgate  to  fol- 
low was  not,  therefore,  very  clearly  defined.  It  was 
expected,  however,  at  least  by  all  the  friends  of  evan- 
gelical truth,  that  he  would  do  nothing  to  encourage 
the  amount  of  error  which  he  should  find  to  exist,  be 
it  great  or  small,  but  should  be  wise  as  a  serpent  in 
devising  means  for  recovering  those  churches  out  of  the 
snare  of  the  devil.  From  his  first  appointment  to  this 
mission,  there  were  large  numbers  of  Episcopalians, 
both  among  the  clergy  and  the  laity,  who  regarded  the 
whole  scheme  as  visionary,  and  the  principle  of  frater- 
nization with  eastern  churches  as  unsound  and  dan- 
gerous in  a  high  degree. 

Time  passed  on ;  and  when  the  official  reports  of 
the  missionary  began  to  reach  this  country,  and  to 
develop  his  views  and  plans  of  operation,  not  only 
were  those  who  doubted  from  the  beginning  confirmed 
in  their  feelings  of  opposition,  but  others  were  induced 
to  take  the  same  sceptical  and  opposing  view  of  the 
whole  scheme. 

Time  passed  on  again ;  and  Mr.  Southgate  was  in 
this  country,  and  before  the  house  of  bishops  as  a  can- 
didate for  the  office  of  missionary  bishop  in  Turkey. 
And  how  was  the  subject  met?  Not,  there  is  good 
reason  to  beheve,  in  accordance  with  the  convictions 
of  a  majority  of  the  church,  but,  in  a  spirit  of  concili- 
ating compromise.  It  is  well  known  that  the  foreign 
missions  of  our  church  are  chiefly  under  the  control, 


FALLING  BACK  IN  TIMES  OF  TRLiL.  223 

and  are  mostly  supported  by,  its  evangelical  members. 
That  portion  of  the  church,  therefore,  had  this  drag- 
on's egg  in  their  hand,  and  might  have  crushed  it  if 
they  would.  But  bishops  Doane,  Ives,  and  Whitting- 
ham  took  Mr.  Southgate  under  their  special  care ;  and, 
Avith  threats  of  bringing  trouble  upon  the  church  in 
case  they  were  refused,  they  overawed  the  evangelical 
men,  and  procured  for  their  ward  a  bishop's  mitre.  In 
the  same  way  they  procured  support  for  him  from  the 
Board  of  Missions,  though  the  foreign  committee  were 
unanimously  opposed  to  his  receiving  it.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that,  with  the  full  and  swelling  robes  of 
office  fresh  upon  him,  he  went  out  to  Constantinople, 
where  the  Armenian  patriarch  smiled  upon  and  ca- 
ressed him,  nay,  called  him  his  friend ;  and  that  he  is 
now  there  as  a  kind  of  episcopal  ambassador,  with  no 
other  apparent  duties  but  to  eat  dinners  and  exchange 
compliments  with  the  heads  of  corrupt  churches  — 
allowing  them  to  invoke  his  episcopal  authority  to 
prop  their  falling  superstitions.  He  is  no  longer  a 
preacher  of  a  simple  gospel,  but  a  negotiator  with  the 
great  ones  of  the  earth — no  longer  an  ambassador  foi 
Christ,  praying  men  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  but  a 
high  ecclesiastical  minister  of  state,  offering  his  com- 
pliments, and  the  compliments  of  his  church,  at  a  high 
patriarchal  court.  Who  can  wonder  that  Piiseyism 
waxes  strong  and  abounds,  when  evangelical  men 
permit  such  things  to  gain  the  implied  sanction  of  the 
church,  notwithstanding  they  have  the  power  to  pre- 
vent it  ? 

One  of  the  reasons  that  defection  has  spread  so  far 
in  our  church  is,  that  evangelical  men,  while  they 
occasionally  speak  in  a  very  spirited  way  of  the  senti- 
ments of  their  opponents,  cannot  summon  the  moral 
force  and  courage  to  repress  and  kill  one  of  their  meas- 


224  FALLING  BACK  IN  TIMES  OF  TRIAL. 

ures.  I  suppose  the  secret  of  the  whole  matter  is  this. 
There  are  men  scattered  along,  at  every  conceivable 
point  of  the  scale  of  churchmanship,  from  the  lowest 
to  the  highest.  Those  standing  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
scale,  who  are  the  most  sound  in  doctrine,  not  willing 
to  displease  and  repel  their  intermediate  brethren,  lest 
they  should  drive  them  into  higher  positions,  generally 
concede  all  they  ask;  and  then,  to  reward  them  for 
their  generosity,  these  intermediate  men,  whose  sym- 
pathies are  really  with  the  class  above,  when  any  test 
question  is  brought  forward,  cast  their  votes  with  the 
tractarians.  I  have  seen  this  game  played,  during  the 
last  twelve  years,  again  and  again ;  and  I  have  never 
known  a  test  question  brought  fairly  to  an  issue,  by 
which  the  tractarians  did  not  gain,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, some  advantage. 

It  is  very  evident  that  this  vacillating  course  has 
made  the  evangelical  party  in  our  church  appear,  for 
the  last  few  years,  extremely  inconsistent.  There 
have  been  frequent  occasions  when  clouds  have  arisen 
in  the  horizon  just  before  the  meeting  of  some  conven- 
tion of  our  Zion,  and  great  anxiety  has  been  felt  re- 
specting coming  trouble.  A  convention  has  been  known 
to  come  together  in  such  a  state  of  things ;  the  clouds 
to  grow  blacker  and  more  threatening,  when  suddenly 
all  that  was  demanded  by  high  churchmen  would  be 
yielded,  the  very  clouds  themselves  would  appear  to 
dissolve  and  fall  in  showers  of  golden  sunshine,  light- 
ing up  all  faces  with  smiles,  and  filling  all  mouths 
with  thanksgiving  that  the  peace  and  unity  of  the 
church  had  been  preserved ;  when  in  fact  peace  and 
unity  had  been  maintained  only  by  a  compromise  of 
those  principles  on  which  the  life  of  the  church  de- 
pended. In  such  cases,  it  has  not  been  uncommon  to 
see,  on  the  following  day,  the  highest  tractarian  walk- 


FALLING  BACK  IN  TIMES  OF  TRUL.  225 

ing  arm  in  arm  with  the  lowest  episcopalian,  and  on 
the  following  Sunday  to  see  them  burying  all  their 
past  misunderstandings  by  an  exchange  of  pulpits  ! 

Who  can  fail  to  see  the  inconsistency  of  such  a 
course  on  the  part  of  low  churchmen?  They  regard 
tractarians  as  little  better  than  open  papists,  and  often 
say  so  without  disguise.  Would  they  admit  papists 
to  their  pulpits,  and  make  concessions  to  them  for  the 
sake  of  peace  7  Not  at  all.  Why,  then,  do  it  in  these 
cases  7  The  people  see  these  inconsistencies,  and 
mark  them.  Hence  their  frequent  indifference  to  the 
advance  of  Puseyism.  They  find  that  their  ministers' 
opposition  to  it  is  altogether  theoretical.  They  do  not 
think  it  worth  while  to  make  war  upon  an  enemy 
which  the  clergy  fight  only  with  paper  balls.  It  can- 
not be  a  very  dangerous  theology,  say  they,  which 
our  ministers  are  willing  to  have  expounded  to  us 
from  their  pulpits.  In  this  way,  tractarianism  makes 
rapid  advances.  Evangelical  men  give  it  wings  to  fly 
with. 

These  evils  have  been  much  aggravated  in  New 
England  by  what  has  been  called  the  conservative,  but 
Avhat  might  better  be  denominated  the  trimming  policy 
of  the  episcopal  church.  I  am  only  affirming  what  is 
within  my  own  knowledge,  when  I  say  that,  on  the 
part  of  New  England  Episcopalian  papers,  there  has 
been  an  effort  to  please  both  parties. 

The  evils  deprecated  in  this  chapter  would  be 
speedily  cured,  could  there  be  induced  among  our 
clergy  a  heroic,  daring  desire  for  the  suppression  of 
error,  which  would  induce  them  to  throw  themselves 
forward  into  the  breach,  fearlessly,  and  to  utter  their 
convictions  with  strong  and  vehement  emphasis,  with- 
out fear  or  favor;  but  so  long  as  there  is  among  them 
a  cautious,  calculating,  fussing  temperament,  which 


226 


FALLING  BACK  IN  TIMES  OF  TRIAL. 


makes  them  nervous,  timid,  alarmed,  when  any  bold 
and  fearless  word  for  the  truth  causes  a  sudden  noise 
to  break  in  their  ears,  or  a  tea-pot  tempest  to  shake 
the  knives  and  forks  upon  their  tables ;  just  so  long 
will  they  be  mere  straws  on  the  current  of  tractarian- 
ism— not  impeding  its  onward  movement,  but  rather 
serving  to  indicate  the  rapidity  of  its  motion. 


227 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SOME  OF  THE  FIRST  STEPPING-STONES. 

Satan  never  builds  a  temple  for  the  votaries  of  error 
to  worship  in,  without  placing  at  a  distance  from  it  a 
few  small  stepping-stones,  to  make  the  beginning  of 
their  ascent  easy. 

The  beginnings  of  an  iindue  exaltation  of  clerical 
power,  and  of  the  consequent  loss  of  popular  liberty, 
are  often  extremely  subtle,  and  sometimes  entirely 
unnoticed.  The  forms  of  expression,  "my  people," 
"my  church,"  which  have  been  much  employed  by 
our  clergy  of  late,  are  probably  seldom  thought  of  as 
having  any  evil  import,  or  as  indicating  any  unlawful 
assumption.  And  yet  a  moment's  reflection  must  con- 
vince any  one  that  they  are  based  upon  an  inward 
sense  of  a  right  to  control,  to  govern,  to  direct. 

That  such  a  feeling  does  lie  at  the  bottom  when 
they  are  used,  is  quite  manifest  from  the  fact  that  the 
claim  of  a  right  to  control,  &c.,  is  generally  put  forth 
by  the  very  persons  who  use  them.  Thus  it  has  been 
often  attempted  of  late  to  decide  for  the  people  what 
kind  of  reading  they  shall  provide  for  themselves.  I 
do  not  mean  that  efforts  have  been  made  to  induce  the 
people  to  read  good  books  and  newspapers,  and  to 
direct  their  attention  to  those  which  are  most  esteemed, 
—  for  this  is  manifestly  proper,  and  perhaps  a  clerical 
duty,  —  but  the  claim  is  often  put  forth  that  the  min- 
ister must  be  consulted,  and  his  permission  be  obtained, 
before  newspapers  or  books  may  be  offered  to  the  peo- 
ple. An  agent  often  has  the  remark  made  to  him,  "  I 
do  not  wish  that  paper  circulated  among  my  people;" 


228  SOME  OF  THE  FIRST  STEPPING-STONES. 

and  I  have  known  instances  of  a  good  deal  of  offence 
being  taken  because  subscriptions  for  certain,  papers 
have  been  taken  in  a  parish  without  obtaining  or  ask- 
ing a  clergyman's  consent.  Need  I  say  how  offensive 
such  an  assumption  must  be  to  persons  who  are  in  the 
habit  of  thinking  and  acting  for  themselves  1  This  is 
one  of  the  effective  means  by  which  the  Roman  clergy 
keep  the  people  in  ignorance.  If  I  knew  a  man  went 
to  my  minister  to  obtain  permission  to  sell  a  book  or  a 
paper  to  me,  I  certainly  would  decline  to  buy,  even 
though  it  were  the  very  thing  I  wanted ;  and  I 
would  do  so  for  the  purpose  of  contributing  something 
towards  destroying  a  practice  which  is  fraught  with 
much  danger  and  mischief.  At  the  same  time,  my 
minister's  opinion  respecting  any  book  or  paper  would 
have  its  due  influence.  The  laity  would  do  well  to 
look  to  this  matter — not,  however,  with  the  view  of 
charging  wrong  motives  or  bad  intentions  upon  the 
clergy,  but  to  destroy  the  very  beginnings  of  evil. 
Many  ministers  of  the  gospel  adopt  these  forms  of 
speech,  and  assume  the  rights  here  disputed ;  but  do  it 
without  the  intention  of  infringing  on  the  rights  of 
others,  and  with  no  other  thought  than  that  of  guard- 
ing the  church  in  which  they  minister  against  im- 
heahhful  influences.  This  being  a  praiseworthy 
desire,  the  people  ought  to  avoid  all  impeachment  of 
motives.  But,  however  excellent  the  motive,  it  is  still 
true  that  it  is  dangerous  to  attempt  to  cure  one  evil  by 
the  introduction  of  another  and  a  greater.  Spiritual 
despotism,  which  is  all  involved  in  what  I  am  here 
contending  against,  is  far  more  destructive  of  all  that 
is  valuable  to  the  church  of  God  than  any  evils  that 
may  arise  from  even  an  injudicious  choice  of  religious 
reading.  Besides,  who  shall  say  that  the  people  are 
not  capable  of  judging  for  themselves  what  are  the 


SOME  OF  THE  FIRST  STEPPING-STONES.  229 

most  suitable  periodicals  for  them  to  read.  In  truth, 
as  things  arc  now  going  in  our  church,  the  laity  are 
generally  far  nearer  right  in  their  views  than  the 
clergy.  It  was  a  remark  of  bishop  Griswold,  that 
"the  hope  of  the  church  is  in  the  laity;"  and  the 
numerous  instances  in  which,  within  a  few  years, 
many  of  our  diocesan  conventions  have  been  held  back 
from  ruinous  acts  solely  by  lay  votes,  prove  the  just- 
ness of  the  good  bishop's  remark. 

It  has  often  appeared  to  me  that  our  ministers  do 
much  to  increase  the  evil  tendencies  of  our  system,  by 
the  kind  of  conversation  in  which  they  engage  in 
their  social  intercourse  with  each  other.  It  is  well 
known  that  much  of  their  conversation,  at  such  times, 
turns  upon  the  strictly  outward  things  of  religion. 
The  most  proper  arrangement  of  pulpits  and  desks, 
quite  often,  on  such  occasions,  calls  into  exercise  the 
most  eloquent  powers,  and  induces  extended,  and 
many  times  discriminating,  remarks  on  their  architec- 
tural relation  to  the  other  parts  of  the  church  edifice. 
The  cut  of  clerical  dresses,  the  propriety  of  their  use, 
the  material  of  which  they  should  be  composed,  the 
need  of  a  new  supply  in  this,  that,  or  the  other  church, 
the  means  of  obtaining  these  articles  for  some  poor 
brother  whose  parish  cannot  command  the  necessary 
funds ;  —  these  are  very  common  topics  of  clerical  con- 
versation. The  rubrics,  too,  furnish  subjects  of  fre- 
quent conversational  discussion.  The  exactness  with 
which  this  brother  or  that  observes  them ;  the  mean- 
ing of  this  or  that  rubric  as  it  regards  the  position  in 
which  certain  things  are  to  be  done;  whether  the 
people  are  required  to  sit,  or  stand,  or  kneel,  during 
the  recital  of  this  or  that  part  of  the  service ;  whether 
the  rubric  requires  the  doing  of  certain  things  before 
sermon  or  after,  on  every  Lord's  day  or  only  at  com- 
20 


230 


SOME  OF  THE  FIRST  STEPPING-STONES. 


munion  seasons,  with  the  face  turned  to  the  people  or 
to  the  communion  table,  in  the  morning  or  afternoon, 
by  the  deacon  or  only  by  the  priest ;  —  these,  and  like 
things,  are  also  fruitful  subjects  of  conversation.  In 
this  way,  a  fondness  for  the  externals  of  religion  is 
cherished  too  often,  to  the  neglect  of  its  internal  and 
more  important  matters. 

At  the  meetings  of  our  annual  conventions,  this 
attention  to  outward  things  takes  another  and  perhaps 
more  pernicious  form.  The  bishop's  address  has  come 
to  consist,  often,  of  little  more  than  a  recital  of  out- 
ward acts  and  services ;  and  some  of  it  is  generally 
occupied  in  describing  the  architectural  taste  displayed 
in  building  some  new  church  or  churches,  or  in  ar- 
ranging a  pulpit,  a  reading  desk,  or  the  accompani- 
ments. 

The  parochial  reports  from  the  clergy  are  too  much 
devoted  to  a  congenial  round  of  secular  narrative. 
What  has  been  given  for  the  repairing  of  the  church  ; 
some  munificent  donation  for  procuring  a  bell ;  a  re- 
fitting and  rearranging  of  the  furniture  of  the  church ; 
the  obtaining  of  a  new  and  elegant  prayer-book  for 
the  desk  ;  the  gift  of  a  valuable  communion  service  ; 
the  number  of  sermons  preached;  the  fact  that  the 
regular  services  of  the  church  have  been  used  on  all 
occasions  of  public  worship;  these  are  facts  and 
themes  which  fill  much  space  in  the  parochial  reports, 
and  take  as  great  a  variety  of  form  as  the  sameness  of 
the  subjects  will  allow. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  these  practices  have  any 
logical  tendency  to  erroneous  views,  but  merely  that 
they  cultivate  a  fondness  for  the  externals  of  religion, 
and  finally  fill  the  mind  and  heart  with  them,  to  the 
exclusion  of  its  inner  essence  or  spirit.  What  is  most 
talked  of  is  generally  most  esteemed;  and  what  is 


SOME  OF  THE  FIRST  STEPPING-STONES.  231 

most  esteemed  becomes  at  length  of  most  importance. 
The  practices  spoken  of  are  often  adopted,  not  from 
any  lack  of  interest  in  the  higher  and  better  part  of 
religion,  but  from  a  desire  to  keep  pace  with  the 
churchmanship  of  the  times ;  and  that  which  begins 
with  putting  the  church  into  the  fore-ground,  gener- 
ally ends  in  placing  Christ  in  the  back-ground. 


232 


CHAPTER  VII] . 

ARE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES? 

All  the  causes  of  tractarianism  which  it  is  deemed 
necessary  to  adduce  at  present  are  now  before  the 
reader.  Are  they  the  true  causes  1  If  so,  the  remedy 
is  simple  and  easy ;  if  not,  we  are  thrown  back  into 
the  same  ignorance  which  has  permitted  the  periodical 
recurrence  of  the  disease  for  the  last  three  hundred 
years.  With  whatever  indifference  many  persons  may 
regard  this  question,  therefore,  it  is  still  immensely 
important  to  know  whether  these  causes  are  the  true 
ones. 

I  think  any  persons  might  settle  this  question  by 
propounding  to  themselves  another.  Does  any  one 
doubt  that  the  removal  of  the  causes  specified  would 
prevent  the  further  generation  of  tractarianism  in  our 
denomination  1 

But  the  whole  subject  is  met  with  several  objections. 
The  only  one  which  has  struck  me  as  having  any 
weight,  or  as  entitled  to  much  respect,  is  generally 
expressed  somewhat  in  this  form  —  "  Puseyism  springs 
from  a  corrupt  nature  —  from  sin  in  the  heart.  When 
piety  runs  low  in  the  church,  and  unconverted  men 
are  introduced  to  our  pulpits,  a  worldly,  outside  reli- 
gion begins  to  be  desired,  and  tractarianism  is  exactly 
suited  to  meet  this  desire.  Hence,  it  is  not  anything 
in  our  liturgy,  but  something  in  man's  heart,  which 
occasions  all  our  trouble." 

I  respect  the  objection,  and  shall,  therefore,  treat  it 
respectfully.  At  the  same  time,  I  am  obliged  to  say 
there  is  not  a  particle  of  truth  or  philosophy  in  it.  To 


AKE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES? 


233 


run  back  to  the  depravity  of  human  nature,  and 
charge  upon  that  the  cause  of  any  particular  bad  de- 
velopment, is  an  easy  way  for  superficial  minds  to 
escape  difficulty ;  but  in  this  case  it  will  not  answer. 
Sin  in  the  heart  is  the  cause  of  tractarianism,  just  as 
it  is  the  cause  of  every  other  evil  in  the  world.  But 
any  discerning  mind  will  see,  that  to  announce  this 
general  truism,  is  to  throw  no  light  upon  the  subject 
whatever. 

The  citizens  of  Boston  assembled  last  fall,  in  large 
numbers,  week  after  week,  to  inquire  after  the  causes 
of  the  juvenile  depravity  which  was  exhibiting  itself  in 
so  many  shocking  forms  in  every  part  of  our  city. 
Suppose  some  individual  had  told  the  people  collected 
on  those  ocasions,  that  their  inquiries  were  easily  an- 
swered,—  it  was  sin  in  the  heart,  it  was  the  corruption 
of  human  nature,  which  caused  the  wickedness  so 
glaringly  conspicuous.  Would  this  have  been  deemed 
a  satisfactory  response  to  their  inquiries  ?  Would  not 
the  people  have  said, — you  have  told  us  a  truth;  but 
it  happens  to  be  a  truth  which  has  no  bearing  on  the 
matter  of  our  present  investigation.  We  do  not  wish 
to  know  that  human  nature  is  in  a  condition  to  allow 
of  wickedness,  but  we  desire  to  be  enlightened  as  to 
what  has  called  out  its  inborn  depravity  into  these 
revolting  forms  of  immorality. 

The  element  of  papal  corruption,  lying  at  the  basis 
of  our  system,  does  not  act  as  the  primal  predis- 
posing, but  as  the  proximate,  exciting  cause  of  Pusey- 
isra.  The  predisposing  cause  (predisposing,  I  mean, 
not  to  tractarianism,  particularly,  but  to  sin  and  error 
of  every  kind)  lies  back  of  all  exciting  causes,  and 
has  its  seat,  of  course,  in  the  corruption  of  human 
nature.  In  that  is  found  the  spring  whence  issue  all 
the  streams  of  error ;  in  that  the  fountain  whence  the 
20* 


234  ARE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES? 

bitter  waters  are  drawn  out.  But  there  is  manifestly 
in  human  nature  no  inherent  tendency  to  any  specific 
form  of  error  or  sin;  nor  is  it  absolutely  essential,  as 
far  as  I  can  see,  that  human  nature  should  be  devel- 
oped into  all  the  forms  of  doctrinal  and  practical  profli- 
gacy of  which  it  is  capable.  Christians  pray  not  to 
be  led  into  temptation,  with  the  view,  I  suppose,  that 
their  evil  natures  may  be  repressed,  and  that  their  ten- 
dencies to  unbelief  and  sin  may  be  checked.  Christian 
parents  think  it  necessary,  too,  to  keep  their  children, 
as  far  as  possible,  removed  from  the  bad  influences 
that  are  in  the  world,  that  is,  from  the  exciting  causes 
of  sin ;  and  in  this  way  they  often  prevent  the  mosf 
terrible  developments  of  wickedness,  and  save  them 
selves  from  the  pangs  of  a  broken  heart.  But  ir 
attempting  to  guard  against  these  exciting  causes, 
they  do  not  overlook  the  deep-seated,  primal  cause,  or 
rather  fountain,  of  all  sin  in  the  heart. 

No  more  does  the  writer  of  these  pages,  by  exhibit- 
ing the  excitmg  causes  of  Puseyism, — as  he  thinks  he 
has  done,  —  overlook  the  fountain  of  every  form  of 
unbelief  and  error,  which  is  found  in  the  depths  of  our 
fallen  nature.  If  the  corruption  of  human  nature  had 
any  specific  tendency  to  engender  tractarianism,  why, 
then,  tractarianism  would  be  the  outward  form  in 
which  it  would  everywhere  develop  itself;  but  it  hap- 
pens, unfortunately,  that  it  is  only  among  Episcopa- 
lians that  it  shows  any  such  tendency.  Why  does  not 
sin  in  the  heart  produce  a  relapse  towards  Romanism 
among  all  protestant  denominations  ?  Simply  because 
it  has  no  inherent  tendency  in. that  direction,  and  only 
produces  such  a  relapse  to  any  extent  when  excited 
by  the  causes  specified.  Our  prayer  as  a  denomina- 
tion should  be,  therefore.  Remove  from  us  temptation 
in  this  direction ;  and  our  first  care  should  be  to  remove 


ARE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES? 


235 


from  our  system  those  elements  of  evil  which  our 
reformers  had  not  the  power  to  extract. 

Here  I  shall  be  met,  very  likely,  with  this  objec- 
tion— "  Let  it  be  granted  that  the  removal  from  our 
system  of  what  you  are  pleased  to  call  a  dangerous 
admixture  would  relieve  us  of  all  papal  tendencies; 
the  same  elimination  which  freed  us  from  this  em- 
barrassment would  cut  the  tie  which  binds  us  to  the 
objects  of  faith,  and  by  eviscerating  our  religion  of  all 
mystery,  would  put  us  upon  the  downward  slide  into 
the  great  gulf  of  rationalistic  scepticism." 

Is  it  then  true  that  the  christian  church  must  choose 
between  the  hell  of  popery  and  the  hell  of  infidelity  1 
Is  a  reception  of  Christianity  inseparable  from  one  or 
the  other  of  these  bad  tendencies  'I  Such  is  the  neces- 
sary implication  of  the  objection  I  am  considering.  If 
this  were  true,  we  should  be  obliged  to  confess  that 
Christianity  is  a  failure.  But,  thank  God,  it  is  not 
true.  It  is  a  libel  upon  the  church  of  God.  We  may 
reject  superstition,  without  embracing  rationalism. 
We  maij  worship  God  in  accordance  with  reason, 
without  reverencing  reason  to  the  neglect  of  God.  We 
may  cast  out  tractarianism,  Avithout  rejecting  faith; 
and  we  7nay  embrace  a  reasonable  belief,  without  ac- 
cepting a  rationalistic  scepticism.  For  one,  I  totally 
reject  the  alternative.  It  is  not  necessary;  and  it  is 
dishonorable  alike  to  the  christian  religion  and  to  its 
divine  Author. 

Yet  it  will  be  said  (for  it  is  often  said)  that  in  the 
case  of  those  extreme  protestant  denominations,  from 
which  all  those  things  have  been  cast  out  which  I 
denominate  superstitious  adjuncts,  there  has  been 
almost  universally  a  falling  away  to  infidelity,  and 
that  there  is,  therefore,  no  safety  in  putting  them  away. 
To  this,  I  submit  the  following  reply. 


236  ARE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES? 

1.  At  Geneva,  and  in  Germany,  among  the  purely 
protestant  churches,  there  has  been,  indeed,  to  a  large 
extent,  the  alleged  falling  away.  It  occurred  xinder 
the  operation  of  mistakes  which  I  have  not  the  room 
nor  the  disposition  to  recite.  Enough  to  say  that  these 
mistakes  are  at  this  moment  correcting  themselves,  and 
that  the  protestantism  of  Switzerland  and  Germany  is 
rallying,  with  every  prospect  of  freeing  itself,  at  no  very 
distant  day,  from  the  errors  into  which  it  has  fallen. 
Evangelical  men  have  already  been  multiplied  sev- 
eral hundred  fold,  and  a  reasonable  hope  may  be  justly 
entertained  that  the  central  seat  of  the  great  continen- 
tal reformation  will  again  acquire  a  name  and  a  praise 
in  the  earth.  We  may  draw  from  the  history  of  the 
reformation  in  Switzerland  and  Germany  this  lesson. 
Human  reason,  employed  to  excess  in  religious  things, 
and  without  a  due  regard  to  the  divine  reason,  as  re- 
vealed in  the  Bible,  is  one  of  those  evils  which  are  not 
hopelessly  incurable, — it  cures  itself  by  its  own  ex- 
cesses. The  mind,  plunged  into  the  evils  of  infidelity 
by  the  excesses  of  its  own  reason,  is  always  dissatis- 
fied ;  and  being  free  to  think,  to  act,  to  struggle,  is 
very  likely,  after  feeding  for  a  time  upon  husks,  to 
return  towards  a  father's  house,  and  to  be  guided  back 
by  the  ever  watchful  and  merciful  Spirit  of  God,  into 
the  regions  of  light  and  peace.  But  not  so  with  the 
poor  victim  of  papal  despotism.  Sink  him  to  the  low- 
est depths  of  spiritual  degradation,  and  his  chilled,  tor- 
pid, and  unreasoning  mind  lies  still  and  unthinking, 
like  the  shell-fish  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean ;  and  if 
ever  he  is  cast  up  upon  the  shores  where  the  light  of 
heaven  can  reach  him,  it  is  only  by  some  moral  tem- 
pest which  breaks  up  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep, 
and  casts  him,  unresisting,  along  with  dirt  and  sand, 
into  a  world  of  light  and  motion.    There  is  hope  for 


ARE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES?  237 

a  protestant  church  which  becomes  infidel ;  but  not 
for  one  which  sinks  bade  into  the  embrace  of  Roman- 
ism. 

2.  My  next  reply  is,  that  the  charge  is  not  true  re- 
specting the  Presbyterian  churches  of  Scotland  and 
America.  No  churches  in  the  world  are  more  sound 
in  the  faith. 

It  is  not  true  respecting  the  Baptist  churches.  Shoots 
have  gone  off  from  these  which  are  unsound ;  but  the 
original  stock  is  good,  and  is  endowed  with  a  large  share 
of  vitality. 

It  is  not  true  respecting  the  Methodist  churches. 
They  went  out  from  the  church  of  England — rejected 
the  very  things  of  which  I  complain,  or  nearly  all  of 
them,  —  retained  an  episcopacy,  in  this  country,  even 
stronger  than  that  which  they  left ;  and  their  condi- 
tion  now  proves,  not  only  that  the  casting  away  of 
these  things  does  not  lead  to  a  loss  of  the  faith,  and  to 
a  rationalistic  infidelity,  but  that  the  retaining  of  them 
is  the  cause  of  a  tendency  towards  popery,  since  no 
such  tendency  has  been  at  all  felt  among  them. 

It  is  not  true  respecting  the  independent  churches  of 
England.  There  have  been  some  defections  among 
these,  as  there  have  been  among  all  churches,  but  the 
great  body  of  them  are  sound. 

It  is  not  true  respecting  the  Congregational  churches 
in  New  England.  Infidelity  has  elaborated  out  of  the 
free  principles  they  have  disseminated  a  few  transcen- 
dentalists  in  Boston  and  vicinity ;  but  the  body  of  these 
churches  is  sound.  They  were  never  more  numerous, 
never  more  prosperous,  and  had  never  better  hopes 
for  the  future,  than  now.*     Statistics,  did  I  choose 

*  The  following  is  taken  from  the  Protestant  Churchman  : 
"  State  of  Unitarianism.  —  The  Christian  Witness  gives  the  follow- 
ing statement  from  the  Christian  Register,  a  Unitarian  paper  pub- 


238 


AKE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES? 


to  employ  them,  would  fully  bear  me  out  in  these 
remarks. 

There  are  quite  a  variety  of  alleged  sources  to  which 
tractarianism  has  been  traced  by  writers  on  this  sub- 
ject. A  certain  class  of  high  churchmen  have  been 
fond  of  attributing  it  to  a  reaction  from  low  views  of 
the  church,  and  from  a  loose  state  of  things  growing  out 
of  such  laxness  of  views ;  but  this  is  to  take  a  superfi- 
cial and  unphilosophical  view  of  the  subject.  Great 
movements,  which  affect  large  classes  of  men,  always 
spring  from  principles  which  have  laid  hold  of  the 
foundations  of  opinion.  In  all  matters  of  theology, 
there  are  germinant  principles,  or  radicles,  which,  hav- 
ing taken  positions  in  the  soil,  infallibly  send  up  their 
shoots  at  those  points  where  their  vital  forces  are  col- 
»  lected. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  the  several  causes  assigned 

lished  in  Boston.  The  question  is  frequently  asked,  'Does  Uni- 
tarianism  increase  in  Massachusetts  ? '  This  is  the  reply  of  their 
organ : 

" '  If  we  look  solely  to  our  own  denomination,  we  might  be  dis- 
couraged. True,  there  never  was  a  period  when  Unitarians  had  so 
many  churches  as  now,  or  when  they  had  a  more  able  or  zealous 
ministry,  or  so  wide  a  field.  But,  at  the  same  time,  here  in  Massa- 
chusetts, things  are  not  as  they  were  five  and  twenty  j'ears  ago,  when 
almost  all  the  distinguished  men  of  the  state  were  Unitarians  ;  when 
the  literature,  intelligence,  public  spirit,  wealth,  and  social  influence 
were  almost  entirely  on  that  side.  Now,  the  tendency  is  elsewhere, 
and  the  fashion,  at  least,  if  not  the  intelligence,  of  the  community,  is 
setting  decidedly  in  another  direction.'" 

This  little  scrap  from  the  Christian  Register  was  copied  into  several  of 
the  Episcopal  papers,  and  in  a  kind  of  triumphant  way  held  up  as  evi- 
dence that  Unitarianism  had  seen  its  best  days ;  and  yet,  to  serve  another 
purpose,  they  were  at  the  very  time  frequently  attempting  to  show  that 
in  Massachusetts  everything  valuable  in  the  gospel  was  gradually  per- 
ishing— all  the  Orthodox  churches  were  going,  through  Unitarianism, 
to  infidelity !  It  has  been  extremely  painful  to  see  my  Episcopalian 
friends  thus  catching  at  every  straw  which  floats  by  them — pretend- 
ing at  one  moment  that  Unitarianism  is  dying  out,  and  in  the  next 
that  it  is  augmenting  by  a  gradual  lapse  in  that  direction  of  all  the 
orthodox  churches  in  New  England.  Such  is  not  the  way  to  gain 
the  respect  of  others,  or  to  serve  the  interests  of  truth. 


ARE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES?  239 

in  this  treatise  are  of  equal  importance,  or  act  with 
equal  energy ;  nor  yet  that  some  of  the  less  important 
of  them,  standing  alone,  would  so  influence  or  pervert 
a  religious  body  as  to  attract  notice.  ]\or,  indeed, 
would  the  whole  together  be  particularly  mischievous, 
but  for  the  manner  in  which  they  are  brought  into 
perpetual  contact  with  the  ministry,  and  to  some  ex- 
tent with  the  people.  The  seeds  of  our  errors  are  in 
.the  liturgy.  —  a  book  which  is  constantly  used,  and  to 
which  attention  is  perpetually  drawn  in  a  thousand 
ways.  Were  these  elementary  errors  lodged  in  some 
old  formulas,  or  confessons  of  faith,  which' were  seldom 
looked  at  or  thought  of,  they  would  do  very  little  mis- 
chief But  the  whole  tendency  of  things  in  our  church 
is,  and  generally  has  been,  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of 
our  forms ;  to  make  them  practically,  as  well  as  theo- 
retically, our  standards.  Hence,  all  the  poison  there 
is  in  them  is  made  active  and  operative.  A  dozen 
grains  of  arsenic,  enclosed  in  a  piece  of  bread,  and 
lodged  in  the  human  stomach,  would  do  no  harm,  pro- 
vided it  could  lie  safely  in  some  corner,  and  not  be  dis- 
turbed, or  brought  into  contact  with  the  coats  of  the 
stomach ;  but  let  the  gastric  juice  dissolve  the  bread, 
and  the  vital  forces  assault  the  enveloped  poison,  and 
then  follow  the  retching,  the  vomiting,  the  spasms,  the 
prostration,  and  perhaps  death  itself 

Finally,  the  causes  of  Puseyism  here  assigned  must 
be  the  true  ones,  because  they  alone  will  satisfactorily 
account  for  tractarian  phenomena.  Whatever  the 
causes  are,  they  have  acted  with  uniformity, — pro- 
ducing so  settled  and  uniform  a  bias  towards  incipient 
popery,  that  it  has  required  the  most  active  use  of  all 
the  protestant  elements  in  the  system,  the  most  zealous 
vigilance  of  the  truly  protestant  people  of  England,  — 
nay,  the  intervention,  at  several  periods,  of  the  British 


240 


ARE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES? 


throne  itself,  to  prevent  a  total  and  shameful  relapse 
into  papal  bondage.  We  may  assume  it  as  certain, 
therefore,  that  the  causes  are  not  extraneous,  acting 
upon  the  system  from  without ;  for  then  they  would 
vary  in  the  direction  of  their  impulses,  according  to  the 
varying  conditions  of  the  outward  world.  They  must 
be  internal — they  must  be  of  the  system ;  and  in  what 
else  can  they  consist  than  in  that  "external  face  of 
things,  near  to  what  had  been  practised  in  the  times 
of  popery,"  which  has  been  fully  exhibited?  When 
the  question  was  up,  at  the  time  of  the  reformation, 
whether  this  "  face  of  things"  should  be  retained,  there 
was  a  powerful  party  of  far-seeing  men,  who  faith- 
fully forewarned  the  church  that  "  this  outward  resem- 
blance wovld  make  the  old  root  of  popery  to  live  still  in 
the  thoughts^''  of  the  people ;  "  so  that,  if  it  made  them 
conform  at  present  more  easily  to  the  change  that  was 
now  made,  it  woidd  make  it  still  much  the  easier  for 

them  to  FALL  BACK  TO  POPERY."  * 

It  has  produced  a  falling  back,  not  only  among  the 
people,  but  especially  among  the  clergy,  —  so  that  at 
each  of  the  periods  when  a  tendency  to  popery  has 
appeared,  there  have  been  large  numbers  of  them  who 
have  supported  the  remaining  popish  ceremonies ;  and, 
finally,  it  has  induced  so  general  a  falling  back,  that 
they  are  now  supported  by  overwhelming  majorities, 
and  are  openly  opposed  by  few.  In  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth, nearly  all  thought  it  best  to  remove  them,  and 
looked  forward  with  hope  to  the  time  of  their  destruc- 
tion. In  the  days  of  Charles  I.,  a  large  number  sup- 
ported them ;  in  the  time  of  Charles  II.,  a  still  larger 
number ;  in  the  reign  of  Anne,  a  yet  larger,  and  in  the 
present  day,  nearly  all.   The  philosophy  of  those  who 

*  Burnet's  Hist.  Ref.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  259. 


ARE  THESE  THE  TRUE  CAUSES? 


241 


opposed  them  at  first  looked  to  the  bottom  of  the  whole 
matter,  and  rightly  predicted  a  relapse  towards  popery 
as  their  natural  result.  They  have  steadily  operated 
in  that  direction — gradually  enlarging  the  sphere  of 
their  influence  in  every  age.  The  church  has  gone 
through  all  the  stages  of  struggling  against  their  influ- 
ence ;  first  unanimously  striving  to  rid  itself  of  them 
against  the  acts  of  parliament,  and  the  will  of  the  sov- 
ereign ;  then  yielding  to  them  in  part,  then  further,  and 
again  further,  and  then  entirely.  It  now  remains  for 
it  to  cast  them  off,  or  be  "  unprotestantized"  by  them. 
The  sum  of  the  whole  matter  is  this :  the  Roman  and 
protestant  elements  were  mingled.  They  were  forcibly 
held  together  by  acts  of  parliament.  The  result  is 
before  the  world ;  the  former  has  been  gradually  over- 
mastering the  latter,  and  the  time  has  now  come,  when 
they  must  be  forcibly  separated,  or  the  christian  world 
be  pained  with  witnessing  the  destruction  of  the 
latter.* 

*  The  above  was  written  in  my  scrap-book  about  six  months  before 
I  saw  Mr.  Taylor's  work,  from  which  I  have  introduced  several  ex- 
tracts. The  reader  will  see  from  the  following  that  Mr.  Taylor  had 
entertained  similar  thoughts. 

"  It  is  thus  at  this  moment,  Cyprian  and  Luther  are  wrestling  amain 
for  mastery  in  the  English  church  ;  and  the  one  or  the  other  of  these 
spirits  must  be  dislodged.  A  season  of  apathy  may  again  come  upon 
the  church,  and  so  the  struggle  may  stand  over  to  another  day ;  but, 
at  its  next  revival,  the  English  church  will  either  go  over  uncondi- 
tionally to  '  antiquity,'  erasing  from  its  formularies  whatever  in  them 
is  protestant,  and  will  expel  all  who  adhere  to  scriptural  doctrine  ;  or 
it  will  recover  its  lost  ground,  and  become  consistently  protestant  and 
biblical." — Ancient  Christianity,  vol  ii.,  p.  110. 

21 


242 


CURE  OF  PUSEYISM. 


PART  VI. 

CHAPTER  I. 

REVISION  OF  THE  PRAYER-BOOK  AND  HOMILIES. 

The  cure  of  Puseyism  must  begin  with  a  purging 
of  the  prayer-book  and  homihes.  This  is  essential. 
Without  it,  no  prescription  can  be  of  any  avail.  And 
why  should  not  this  be  done  1  Does  anybody  pretend 
tliat  these  formularies  are  perfect  7  Not  when  dealing 
honestly  with  their  judgment.  Then  it  is  not  impos- 
sible to  improve  them.  Moreover,  the  preface  of  the 
prayer-book  itself  contemplates  changes  and  improve- 
ments from  time  to  time;  and  says  that,  "In  every 
church,  what  cannot  be  clearly  determined  to  belong 
to  doctrine  must  be  referred  to  discipline ;  and  there- 
fore, by  common  consent  and  authority,  may  be  altered, 
abridged,  enlarged,  amended,  or  otherwise  disposed  of, 
as  may  seem  most  convenient  for  the  edification  of  the 
people,  according  to  the  various  exigencies  of  times 
and  occasions." 

The  preface  continues  :  — "  The  church  of  England, 
to  which  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  these 
states  is  indebted,  under  God,  for  her  first  foundation 
and  a  long  continuance  of  nursing  care  and  protection, 
hath,  in  the  preface  of  her  book  of  common  prayer, 
laid  it  down  as  a  rule,  that  '  fhe  partmdar  forms  of 


REVISION  OF  THE  PRAYER-BOOK  AND  HOMILIES.  243 

divine  worship,  and  the  rites  and  ceremonies  appointed 
to  be  used  therein,  being  things  in  their  own  nature 

INDIFFERENT  AND  ALTERABLE,   AND  SO  ACKNOWLEDGED,  it  iS 

but  reasonable  that,  upon  weighty  and  important  con- 
siderations, according  to  the  various  exigencies  of  times 
and  occasions,  sucJi  changes  and  alterations  shoidd  be 
made  therein  as  to  those  who  are  in  authority  should, 
from  time  to  time,  seem  either  necessary  or  expe- 
dient.' " 

Nor  is  this  all.  This  preface  says  :  — "  The  same 
church  hath  not  only  in  her  preface,  but  likewise  in 
her  articles  and  homilies,  declared  the  necessity  and 
expediency  of  occasiotial  alterations  and  amendments 
in  her  forms  of  public  wo?-ship." 

Who  now  shall  say  that  the  liturgy  ought  not  to  be 
touched,  when  it  was  the  declared  intention  of  the 
reformers  that  it  should,  from  time  to  time,  be  "  altered 
and  amended,"  and  when  they  affirmed  it  "  reasona- 
ble" and  laid  it  down  as  a  ride,  that  it  should  undergo 
"changes"  which  should  adapt  it  to  times  and  cir- 
cumstances? And  yet,  had  1  denied  the  canonical 
authenticity  of  the  gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John,  I  should  probably  have  been  treated  with 
less  severity  than  for  urging  the  necessity  of  revising 
the  prayer-book. 

But  the  preface  of  the  prayer-book  advances  another 
step.  After  referring  to  several  revisions  which  had 
taken  place,  it  adds :  —  "  Her  general  aim  in  these  dif- 
ferent reviews  and  alteration^  hath  been,  as  she  further 
declares  in  her  said  preface,  '  to  do  that  which,  accord- 
ing to  her  best  understanding,  might  most  tend  to  the 
preservation  of  peace  and  unity  in  the  church;  the 
procuring  of  reverence,  and  the  exciting  of  piety  and 
devotion  in  the  worship  of  God  ;  and,  finally,  the  cut- 
ting off  occasion  of  cavil  or  quarrel  against  her  hturgy.' " 


244     REVISION  OF  THE  PRAYER-BOOK  AND  HOMILIES. 


It  is  well  known  that  those  parts  of  the  liturgy 
against  which  objections  have  been  raised  in  this 
treatise  have  been  the  cause  of  much  prejudice  against 
the  prayer-book,  and  against  the  Episcopal  church. 
Those  who  defend  them  as  proper,  and  who  are 
unwilling  to  part  with  them,  will  acknowledge  this. 
They,  as  well  as  I,  know  that  nothing  has  so  much 
hindered  the  growth  of  the  Episcopal  church.  And 
the  preface  of  the  prayer-book,  as  quoted  above, 
affirms,  not  only  that  "the  particular  forms  of  divine 
worship,  and  the  rites  and  ceremonies  appointed  to  be 
used  therein,"  are  "things  in  their  own  nature  indif- 
ferent and  alterable^  and  so  acknowledged,"  but  that 
alterations  should  be  made,  when  in  this  manner 
"occasion  of  cavil  or  quarrel  against  the  liturgy"  may 
be  "cut  off."  I  press  home,  therefore,  upon  the 
asserters  of  the  "authority  of  the  prayer-book"  this 
very  authority  itself  As  they  will  not  listen  to  my 
plea,  I  bring  the  prayer-book  before  them,  and  allow  it 
to  plead  itself  for  revision.  And  I  ask  those  gentle- 
men who  are  so  fond  of  accusing  me  of  opposing  the 
church,  and  of  assuming  to  be  themselves  its  exclusive 
guardians  and  friends,  to  come  forward  and  show 
wherein  I  prove  myself  its  enemy  by  urging  what  the 
prayer-book  itself  asserts  to  be  necessary.  It  does 
appear  to  me  a  most  marvellous  exhibition  of  infatua- 
tion for  the  Episcopalian  clergy,  knowing, — as  they 
do  know, — that  those  things  m  the  liturgy  which  I 
allege  to  be  popish,  and  which  the  members  of  all  non- 
episcopal  churches  believe  to  be  popish,  stand  directly 
in  their  path,  —  hedging  up  their  way  to  usefulness, 
and  closing  many  a  field  of  pious  labor  against  a 
church  towards  which  they  profess  to  exercise  the 
warmest  affection,  —  should  yet  insist  on  retaining 
them,  and  frown  upon  every  attempt  to  cast  them  out. 


REVISION  OF  THE  PRAYER-BOOK  AND  HOMILIES.  245 


The  way  of  our  church  is  literally  hedged  up  by  these 
popish  things.*  The  people  do  not,  and  will  not,  enter 
heartily  into  them.  They  may  like  some  things  about 
the  Episcopal  church ;  but  to  these  they  have  a  just 
and  an  unconquerable  aversion.  Our  church  may 
prosper  in  large  cities,  and  among  the  aristocracy ;  but 
in  the  country  its  progress  will  be  exceedingly  slow 
and  discouraging.  The  clergy  may  be  active,  exem- 
plary and  excellent  men ;  they  may  labor  with  great 
zeal  and  diligence,  but  they  will  not  be  gratified  with 
very  full  congregations,  or  be  encouraged  with  flatter- 
ing results  of  their  exertions.  They  may  explain 
absolution,  baptismal  regeneration,  and  other  things 
very  satisfactorily,  as  they  think;  but,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  the  people  will  think  for  themselves  not- 
withstanding, and  will  say,  —  We  do  not  believe  these 
as  taught  in  the  prayer-book,  and  we  carmot  believe 
them. 

If,  however,  the  clergy  are  willing  to  spend  one 
half  their  time  in  attempting  to  explain  to  the  people 
what  cannot  be  explained,  and  to  labor  hard  to  advance 
a  church  which  cannot  be  much  advanced,  rather  than 
to  permit  the  removal  of  those  things  which  stand  in 
the  way  of  its  progress,  —  why,  then  the  laity  have 
only  to  decide  whether  they  will  quietly  and  uncom- 
plainingly consent  to  work  with  them  under  such  dis- 

*  Bishop  Griswold,  the  wisest  man  our  church  in  this  country  has 
ever  had,  and  who  was  better  acquainted  than  any  other  man  with 
the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  Episcopal  churches  in  New  Eng- 
land, thus  speaks  in  his  address  delivered  before  the  convention  of  the 
eastern  diocese  in  1837  :  —  "  The  prejudice  in  these  Eastern  states 
against  forms  of  prayer,  and  the  objections  so  generally  made  to  some 
parts  of  ours  particularly,  and  to  the  length  of  our  morning  service, 
are  powerful  obstacles  to  our  increase."  ****<<  When  there  shall 
have  been  a  judicious  revision  of  our  liturgy,  in  the  manner  wisely 
recommended  by  our  venerable  brother,  bishop  White,  deceased,  1 
doubt  not  but  our  churches  will  more  rapidly  increase." 

21* 


246     REVISION  OF  THE  PRAYER-BOOK  AND  HOMILIES. 

heartening  circumstances,  and  with  so  httle  hope  of 
encouraging  results.  I  hope  they  will  not.  I  hope 
they  will  call  for  a  revision  of  the  prayer-book,  and 
press  it  upon  the  clergy  as  absolutely  essential  to  the 
growth  of  our  church.  They  can  make  themselves 
heard  on  this  subject  if  they  will.  They  ought  to  do 
it.  They  should  do  it  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  them- 
selves. They  are  now  burdened,  many  of  them,  with 
constant  calls  for  money  to  support,  year  after  year, 
feeble  churches,  which  would  at  once  acquire  strength 
to  take  care  of  themselves,  but  for  these  relics  of 
popery  which  drive  away  the  people.  They  should 
do  it  out  of  regard  for  the  church  they  have  chosen  as 
their  own,  out  of  love  for  its  extension  and  prosperity. 
And,  above  all,  they  should  do  it  from  a  desire  that  the 
gospel,  which  every  branch  of  the  church  is  commis- 
sioned to  publish,  may  have  free  course  and  be  glori- 
fied. 

There  is  an  absolute  necessity  that  they  should  do 
this.  In  the  strong  language  of  Isaac  Taylor,  "  Luther 
and  Cyprian  are  wrestling  amain  for  the  mastery  in 
the  English  church."  And  one  or  the  other  will  have 
the  mastery  both  in  the  English  church  and  in  our 
own.  If  the  laity  do  not  cast  out  Cyprian's  super- 
stitions, these  superstitions  Avill  assuredly  cast  out 
Luther's  justification  by  faith.  Cyprian  is  predomi- 
nant in  tlic  prayer-book,  and  Luther  in  the  articles. 
That  the  prayer-book  and  articles  do  not  speak  the 
same  language,  even  i7i  the  public  estimation^  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  the  tractarians  attempted  long  to 
support  their  views  from  the  liturgy,  no  man  appear- 
ing to  feel  particularly  outraged;  but  the  moment  Mr. 
Newman  tried  to  do  the  same  thing  with  the  articles 
in  tract  XC,  so  general  and  emphatic  was  the  burst  of 


REVISION  OF  THE  PRAYER-BOOK  AND  HOMILIES.  247 

public  indignation,  that  the  further  pubUcation  of  the 
tracts  was  immediately  arrested.* 

Some  suppose  that  our  evils  may  be  cured  by  legis- 
lation ;  that  is,  by  the  enactment  of  s\;ch  canons  by 
the  general  convention  as  shall  deprive  any  bishop, 
presbyter,  or  deacon,  of  the  right  to  construe  our  arti- 
cles in  harmony  with  the  doctrinal  matter  of  the 
decrees  of  Trent,  or  to  make  any  of  our  formularies 
speak  the  language  of  Rome. 

Legislation  may  possibly  do  something  for  us ;  but 
it  cannot  do  much.  Our  chief  danger  does  not  lie  in 
any  attempt  to  efface  the  lines  of  demarkation  between 
the  decrees  of  Trent  and  the  thirty-nine  articles. 
Those  lines  can  never  be  lost.  The  common  sense  of 
the  people  will  treat  with  scorn  any  attempt  to  wipe 
them  out.  The  danger,  then,  does  not  lie  here.  But 
it  has  been  shown  that  there  are  many  things  in  the 
prayer-book  of  which  this  cannot  be  fairly  said.  It 
has  been  proved  that  tractarians  can  fairly  make  out 
from  that  book  a  strong  case.  And  although  it  might 
be  an  easy  thing  for  the  general  convention  to  declare 
that  the  term  regeneration,  for  example,  in  the  baptismal 
service,  means  nothing  more  than  an  outward  change 
of  state,  and  to  forbid  the  use  of  the  term  by  the  clergy 
in  any  other  sense  ;  yet  the  great  body  of  the  people, 
as  well  as  some  of  the  first  minds  in  the  clerical  pro- 
fession, would  insist,  not  only  that  the  word  does  in 

*  In  saying  this,  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  endorsing  all  that 
is  contained  even  in  the  articles  ;  but  only  the  general  body  of  truth 
which  they  present.  For  example,  I  do  not  believe,  with  the  twen- 
tieth article,  that  the  church  hath  "authority  in  controversies  of 
faith  ;"  for  the  most  ingenious  logic  cannot  land  such  an  assumption 
anywhere  except  in  the  destruction  of  private  judgment.  For  if,  when 
a  controversy  is  up,  the  decision  of  the  church  settles  it  for  all  her  chil- 
dren, then  there  is  no  private  judgment ;  but  if,  after  the  decision  of 
the  church,  there  is  still  an  appeal  to  the  individual  judgment,  and 
each  man  settles  it  for  himself,  then  the  "  authority"  of  the  church  has 
no  existence  in  fact. 


248     REVISION  OF  THE  PRAYER-BOOK  AND  HOMILIES. 

itself  mean  an  inward  and  spiritual  change,  but  that 
the  whole  baptismal  service  is  framed  in  accordance 
with  such  meaning ;  and  saying  this  from  their  inward 
convictions,  they  would  see  and  feel  the  injustice  of 
commanding  the  interpretation  first  named.  The  gen- 
eral convention  might  aiiirm,  too,  that  the  Episcopal 
church  does  not  teach  any  presence  in  the  bread  and 
wine,  or  any  change  in  these  visible  elements;  but 
everybody  sees  that  the  whole  service  is  framed  and 
conducted  as  if  something  were  done  to  the  material 
substances  to  make  them  what  they  were  not  before. 
What  then  could  legislation  avail?  Nothing,  that  I 
can  see,  except  to  raise  endless  disputes  about  the 
animus  of  the  compilers  of  the  liturgy.  The  only 
remedy  is  to  strike  out  the  mischievous  passages,  and 
make  the  liturgy  thoroughly  and  consistently  protes- 
tant.  This  would  pluck  the  evil  up  by  the  roots ;  and 
by  making  it  unpleasant  for  Romanizers  to  remain 
with  us,  would  leave  us  an  undisputing,  a  united,  and 
a  prosperous  people. 


249 


CHAPTER  II. 

ABRIDGMENT  AND  SIMPLIFICATION  OF  USAGES. 

The  next  thing  needing  to  be  done  to  effect  a  cure 
of  tractarianism  is  to  abridge  the  number  of  our 
usages,  and  to  simpUfy  such  as  are  retained.  This  is 
also  indispensable.  We  have  seen  that  usages  have  a 
very  effective  way  of  teaching.  They  are  full,  many 
of  them,  of  bad  positive  instruction,  and  many  others 
of  them,  of  vicious  suggestion.  So  that,  were  we  to 
rid  our  prayer-book  of  all  doctrinal  error,  and  to  retain 
our  usages  as  they  are,  we  should  yet  be  in  danger, 
and  could  not  boast  of  having  clean  escaped  the  snares 
of  the  enemy. 

Let  the  usages  of  the  church,  then,  be  purged.  Why 
should  they  not  ?  Do  those  I  object  to,  accomplish 
any  good  7  W"hat  possible  advantage  can  there  be  in 
having  different  places  for  preaching  and  praying? 
Who  was  ever  made  wise  unto  salvation,  or  had  a 
holy  thought  suggested,  by  a  variety  of  clerical 
dresses,  or  especially  by  a  theatrical  exchange  of  vest- 
ments during  divine  service  1  When  was  truth  better 
enforced  by  a  special  conspicuity  of  the  altar,  or  winged 
with  a  diviner  energy  by  being  published  from  one 
corner,  and  sent  diagonally  across  the  church  ?  Has 
any  prayer  ever  gone  more  directly  up  to  the  throne 
of  God,  or  entered  more  readily  into  the  ears  of 
Jehovah,  by  being  offered  with  the  face  to  the  com- 
munion table?  Have  any  better  views  of  the  Lord's 
supper  been  induced  by  departing  from  the  example 
of  the  Saviour  and  his  apostles,  and  receiving  the 
bread  and  wine  in  a  kneeling  posture?    Have  the 


250      ABRIDGMENT  AND  SIMPLIFICATION  OF  USAGES. 

sacramental  bread  and  wine,  or  the  baptismal  water, 
ever  been  made  the  better  by  heathen  manipulations  ? 
Has  a  bow  ever  enforced  the  divinity  of  the  Son  of 
God,  or  a  couple  of  finger  strokes,  in  the  form  of  a 
cross,  upon  a  child's  forehead,  ever  sunk  the  grace  of 
God  more  deeply  into  his  heart,  or  sent  him,  in  subse- 
quent life,  more  cheerfully  forward  in  the  path  of 
duty?  No  ;  to  each  and  to  all,  I  say,  no— not  in  any 
manner,  not  in  any  degree.  Tell  me,  then,  ye  who 
support  these  things ;  if  they  do  no  good,  for  what  are 
they  retained  7  Why  practise  useless  ceremonies  1  Is 
the  christian,  especially  the  christian  minister,  to  spend 
his  time  in  observing  ceremonies  which  have  no  use- 
ful end  1  Is  the  church  of  God,  placed  in  the  midst 
of  this  wicked  world,  to  busy  itself  about  trifles  which 
benefit  no  one  7 

But  this  is  not  the  worst  view  of  the  case.  These 
things  are  not  merely  useless ;  it  has  been  proved  that 
they  do  positive  mischief;  that  they  suggest  and  teach 
error ;  that  they  beget  superstitious  feelings. 

Nor  is  this  all.  They  drive  away  the  people. 
They  have  operated  steadily  in  that  direction  from  the 
days  of  Elizabeth  to  this  time.  They  destroyed  the 
usefulness  of  many  of  the  best  divines  of  the  English 
church,  while  Elizabeth  was  yet  on  the  throne.  They 
closed  the  pulpits  of  eight  thousand  of  the  English 
churches  at  one  time.  They  drove  two  thousand  of 
its  best  clergy  out  of  the  establishment  in  a  body. 
They  have  filled  the  hearts  of  thousands  of  the  truest 
sons  of  that  church  with  sorrow,  and  grief,  and  indig- 
nation ;  have  changed  thousands  of  the  friends  of  the 
establishment  into  its  enemies.  In  short,  the  pestilence 
and  the  sword  could  not  have  been  more  efiectual  in 
thimring  the  ranks  of  the  church  of  England. 

And  yet,  suicidal  as  this  policy  is,  these  usages  are 


ABRIDGMENT  AND  SIMPLIFICATION  OF  USAGES.  251 

retained.  There  they  are,  in  the  prayer-book,  in  the 
practices  of  the  church,  —  doing  no  good,  producing 
false  doctrine,  engendering  superstition,  converting 
friends  into  enemies,  thinning  the  church,  putting  into 
its  mouth  the  cry,  "  My  leanness,  my  leanness,"  fill- 
ing the  minds  of  the  people  with  prejudices  against  it, 
and  making  it,  not  a  praise,  but  a  reproach,  in  the 
earth. 

A  plain  scriptural  duty  has  been  resting  upon  the 
English  church,  and  upon  our  own,  from  their  origin, 
which  is  yet  unfulfilled.  St.  Paul  says,  "  If  meat 
make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  more  meat 
while  the  world  stands;"  from  which  I  infer  that 
christian  morals  require  the  disciples  of  Christ  to 
abstain  from  anything  not  essential,  which  offends  a 
brother,  or  causes  him  to  stumble.  How  the  Episco- 
pal churches  of  England  and  America  can  have  so 
long  felt  like  resisting  the  demands  of  this  duty,  while 
so  many  have  been  stumbling  over  these  useless  and 
unessential  ceremonies,  it  passes  my  understanding  to 
conceive.  I  leave  the  fact  to  stand  before  the  eyes 
of  men,  as  a  mystery,  not  of  godliness,  but  of  unbe- 
lief 

At  all  events,  I  insist  that  thoSe  are  not  the  true 
friends  of  the  church  who  retain  these  things  to  its 
injury.  Whatever  their  pretensions,  they  are  its  worst 
enemies.  The  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  com- 
bined, cannot  hinder  its  growth,  as  they  are  hinder- 
ing it. 

The  ministers  belonging  to  the  commission  selected 
by  Charles  the  Second  for  attending  to  the  responsible 
duties  of  revising  and  thoroughly  protestantizing  the 
liturgy,  urge  a  great  number  of  objections  to  the  book 
of  common  prayer,  and  lay  down  this  rule,  which 


252      ABRIDGMENT  AND  SIMPLIFICATION  OF  USAGES. 

they  thought  should  be  followed  in  preparing  a  liturgy 
for  public  worship.    It  is  worthy  of  special  notice  : 

"And,  therefore,  in  pursuance  of  this  his  majesty's 
most  gracious  commission,  and  the  procuring  of  unity 
amongst  ourselves,  we  judge  meet  to  propose, 

"  First,  that  all  prayers,  and  other  materials  of  the 
liturgy,  may  consist  of  nothing  doubtful  or  questioned 
amongst  pious,  learned,  and  orthodox  persons,  inas- 
much as  the  professed  end  of  composing  them  is  for 
the  declaring  of  the  unity  and  consent  of  all  who  join 
in  the  public  worship."* 

A  most  wise  and  judicious  rule  !  It  is  the  only  rule 
which  can  be  made  to  harmonize  at  all  with  the  chari- 
ties of  the  gospel.  Whence  can  a  church,  by  any 
possibility,  derive  the  right  to  put  doubtful  things  into 
its  formularies  of  worship  ?  From  any  fair  construc- 
tion of  the  principles  of  mutual  rights?  Not  at  all. 
Every  christian  owes  to  every  other  christian  the  con- 
cession of  whatever  injures  that  other's  conscience, 
provided  his  own  conscience  does  not  regard  it  as 
essential.  This  is  a  plain  principle  of  christian  ethics, 
and  he  who  violates  it  is  below  the  morality  of  his 
religion. 

For  the  majority  of  a  church  to  decline  to  give  up  a 
useless  ceremony  which  wounds  the  consciences  of  a 
minority,  merely  because  they  have  the  power  to 
retain  it,  seems  very  much  like  acting  on  the  maxim 
of,  "  Keep  all  you  have  got,  and  get  all  you  can." 

It  is  a  pity  any  should  have  so  learned  Christ.  If  a 
church  employs  a  liturgy,  it  should  be  so  constructed 
that  it  shall  not  occasion  doubt  or  disquietude  in  the 
mind  of  any  christian  who  uses  it ;  for  every  member 
of  that  church,  provided  he  is  a  true  christian,  is  enti- 


*Cardwell's  Hist,  of  Conferences,  p.  304. 


ABRIDGMENT  AND  SIMPLIFICATION  OF  USAGES.  263 


tied  to  have  a  liturgy  which  shall  not  offend  or  hurt 
his  conscience.  This,  I  say,  he  is  entitled  to.  To 
impose  upon  him  a  liturgy  which  is  burdened  with 
ceremonies  not  enjoined  in  the  word  of  God,  is  to 
abuse  and  insult  him  in  the  very  house  of  God,  while 
professing  to  aid  him  in  his  religious  duties. 

To  lay  doubtful  things  upon  the  conscience  is  not 
only  a  violation  of  mutual  rights ;  it  is  subversive  of 
the  teaching  of  the  gospel. 

In  the  letter  which  "the  apostles,  and  elders,  and 
brethren,"  sent  to  the  disciples  at  Antioch,  they  say  — 
"  For  it  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  us,  to 
lay  upon  you  no  greater  burden  than  these  necessary 
things."*  Necessarrj  things;  they  mT^y  he  imposed; 
all  others  are  improper.  But  who  will  pretend  that 
the  ceremonies  objected  to  are  necessary  7  I  never 
yet  heard  them  called  necessary.  I  never  yet  saw  an 
Episcopalian  who  would  not  say  that  they  were  not  so. 
Then  the  gospel  rule  demands  that  they  shall  be  thrown 
aside.    To  retain  them,  is  to  rebel  against  God.| 

*  Acts  XV.  28. 

t  These  remarks  apply,  of  course,  only  to  such  usages  as  wound  the 
consciences  of  believers. 

22 


254 


CHAPTER  III. 

PURIFICATION  OF  OUR  OWN  MINDS. 

ScAKCE  a  day  passes  without  adding  to  the  strength 
of  my  conviction,  that  there  are  very  few  minds  in  our 
church  which  are  wholly  free  from  the  effects  of  the 
sacramental  virus.  The  prayer-book  has  done  its  mis- 
chievous work  among  us  to  a  very  wide  extent.  It 
may  be  regarded  as  nearly  certain,  that  any  man  who 
affirms  the  prayer-book  to  be  free  from  error,  and  ex- 
cellent in  all  its  tendencies,  is  himself  infected — that 
is,  he  has  the  seeds  of  error  in  him,  and  nothing  will 
prevent  their  springing  up  and  growing,  except  an 
uncommon  share  of  the  grace  of  God,  or  a  lack  of  men- 
tal activity.*  Nearly  all  our  evangelical  men,  there- 
fore, need  to  reexamine  the  ground  on  which  they  are 
standing.  In  short,  they  must  purge  their  own  minds. 
This  will  result  naturally  from  a  purging  of  the  prayer- 
beok,  homilies,  and  usages  of  the  church.  For  when 
superstitious  formularies  and  usages  are  corrected, 
superstitious  views  and  feelings  will  die  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

But  there  are  certain  things  which  evangelical 
churchmen  ought  to  do  at  once.    They  should  clear 

*  A  man  may  be  kept  by  either  of  these  means  from  embracing 
undisguised  error.  A  large  supply  of  God's  grace  in  the  heart,  or  a 
warm  and  hearty  embracing  of  the  vital  doctrines  of  evangelical  re- 
ligion, may  give  him  so  lively  and  keen  a  sense  of  the  value  of  truth, 
as  to  induce  him  to  repress  and  stifle  any  mental  activity  which  should 
attempt  to  draw  legitimate  errors  out  of  the  elementary  principles 
lying  in  his  mind.  So,  on  the  other  hand,  a  lack  of  intellectual  activ- 
ity may  prevent  the  elaboration  of  error,  though  all  its  primary  ele- 
ments are  lodged  in  the  intellect. 


PURIFICATIO\.  OF  OUR  OWN  MINBS.  255 

their  minds  immediately  of  all  exclusiveness.  Nothing 
can  be  more  unlovely  than  an  exclusive  spirit — noth- 
ing less  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  And 
surely  it  is  not  in  keeping  with  the  supposed  views  of 
evangelical  men,  for  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  high 
churchism.  Of  the  old-fashioned  bishop  Hobart 
churchmanship,  the  apostolic  succession  is  the  corner- 
stone. And  yet  many  evangelical  men  among  us 
liave  embraced  it  in  the  very  sense  in  which  it  was 
held  by  Hobart — I  mean  the  unchurching  sense  of  no 
valid  ministerial  orders  except  through  the  apostolic 
line.  There  are  two  classes  of  apostolic  successionists ; 
the  one  affirming  that  not  only  the  powers  of  govern- 
ment, but  the  moral  qualities  which  fit  one  for  dis- 
charging the  peculiar  functions  of  the  ministry,  and 
give  validity  to  clerical  acts,  are  also  conveyed  along 
the  line  of  succession,  so  that  a  breaking  of  this  Une 
would  interrupt  the  flow  of  divine  grace  to  the  church  ; 
the  other  declaring  that,  although  no  moral  fitness 
for  clerical  duty  is  imparted  in  ordination,  yet  that  all 
lawful  government  must  come  through  the  line  of 
bishops. 

Now,  although  this  latter  class  does  not  believe  in 
the  transmission  of  sacramental  power,  yet,  if  they 
believe  in  the  transmission  of  office  or  government 
through  the  episcopal  line,  I  fear  they  have  the  root 
of  the  whole  evil  in  them,  and  will  not  ultimately 
escape  its  power.  For  why  should  not  the  apostolic 
succession  be  as  necessary  to  convey  power  to  perform 
the  peculiar  functions  of  an  office,  as  to  convey  the 
office  itself?  Of  what  peculiar  advantage  Avould  it  be 
to  anybody  that  one  man  alone  had  the  keys  of  his 
country's  arsenal,  if  all  his  neighbors  could  enter  the 
armory  without  keys?  And,  in  like  manner,  of  what 
distinctive  advantage  is  office^  conveyed  by  episcopal 


256 


PURIFICATION  OF  OUR 'OWN  MINDS. 


ordination,  if  those  who  have  not  episcopal  ordination, 
can  derive  from  some  other  source  the  power  val- 
idly to  discharge  all  the  functions  of  the  ministerial 
office? 

The  tractarian  view  on  this  point  seems  to  be  the 
more  consistent  of  the  two.  For,  if  God  intended  to 
confine  the  transmission  of  ministerial  office  to  the 
episcopal  line  of  ordination,  it  would  seem  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  he  would  have  conveyed,  through  the 
same  channel,  the  qualifications  for  discharging  efiec- 
tively  the  duties  of  the  office ;  for  then  the  lack  of 
qualification,  as  evinced  by  fruitless  labors,  would  be 
an  infallible  evidence  that  the  office  had  not  been  de- 
rived through  the  apostolic  line.  But  since  the  minis- 
terial acts  of  those  who  have  not  been  episcopally 
ordained  are  equally  efficacious  with  the  acts  of  those 
who  are,  the  inference  seems  unavoidable,  that  God 
never  intended  to  transmit  the  ministerial  commission 
through  any  line  whatever. 

I  shall  not  pretend  to  impeach  the  correctness  of  our 
ordinal,  when  it  says,  "It  is  evident  unto  all  men, 
diligently  reading  holy  Scripture  and  ancient  authors, 
that  from  the  apostles'  times  there  have  been  these 
orders  of  ministers  in  Christ's  church  —  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons."  Granting  that  such  a  trine 
distribution  of  the  christian  ministry  for  several  hun- 
dred years  as  a  mere  historic  fact,  may  be  very  "  evi- 
dent" to  the  readers  of  "Scripture  and  ancient  au- 
thors," it  does  not  follow  that  such  an  arrangement  of 
the  ministry  is  alone  lawful,  or  that  it  might  not  at 
any  time  be  dispensed  with.  It  is  equally  "  evident 
unto  all  men,  diligently  reading  holy  Scripture  and 
ancient  authors,"  that  from  the  time  of  Augustus 
Caesar,  there  has  been  at  the  head  of  that  organic  con- 
dition of  society  called  government,  this  single  order 


PURIFICATION  OF  OUR  OWN  MINDS. 


267 


of  men,  namely,  kings.  But  the  admission  of  tljis 
fact  does  not  imply  that  it  is  unlawful  to  dispense 
with  the  regal  form  of  government,  and  that  the  re- 
publican government  under  which  we  live  is  a  wicked 
breach  upon  the  order  which  divine  wisdom  has  estab- 
lished. 

It  is  well  known  that  a  large  majority  of  the  first 
bishops  and  divines  of  the  English  church  held  that 
bishops  were  not  a  separate  order,  jure  divino ;  that 
ordination  was  confined  to  bishops  exclusively  by 
apostolic  practice,  and  the  canons  of  the  church, 
rather  than  by  a  divme  enactment ;  and  it  is  known, 
still  further,  that,  in  a  conference  held  by  these  bish- 
ops and  divines,  with  Cranmer  at  their  head,  before 
the  compiling  of  the  liturgy,  such  an  opinion  was  fully 
expressed.  Now,  the  whole  question  whether  episco- 
pacy is  perpetually  binding  on  the  church,  turns  on 
the  question  whether  it  is  of  divine  right.  If  of 
divine  right,  it  is  perpetually  binding ;  if  not,  it  may 
be  dismissed  whenever  the  church  shall  see  fit  to  dis- 
pense with  it. 

Moreover,  the  reformers  did  not  seem  to  regard 
episcopacy  as  binding  on  the  church ;  for  in  the  pref- 
ace of  the  prayer-book  they  say,  "What  cannot  be 
clearly  determined  to  belong  to  doctrine,  must  be  re- 
ferred to  discipline;  and  therefore,  by  common  con- 
sent and  authority,  may  be  altered,  abridged,  enlarged, 
amended,  or  otherwise  disposed  of,  as  may  seem  most 
convenient  for  the  edification  of  the  people,  according 
to  tlie  various  exigencies  of  times  and  occasions  J' ^ 
Now,  if  episcopacy  belongs  to  "disciplined^  rather  than 
to  "doctrine,^''  —  as  of  course  it  does,  —  we  want  no 
further  evidence  that  the  English  reformers  regarded 
it  not  only  not  of  divine  right,  but  as  not  perpetually 
binding  on  the  church. 

22* 


258  PURIFICATION  OF  OUR  OWN  MINDS. 

In  these  views  I  fully  concur.  My  conviction  is 
that  government,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  is  of  divine 
appointment ;  but  that  its  particular  form,  in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other,  has  not  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  any  positive  divine  enactment,  but  has  been 
left  to  the  moulding,  under  divine  providence,  of 
times  and  circumstances,  in  accordance  with  the 
wants  of  the  race  in  its  various  moral  and  physical 
conditions. 

I  believe,  therefore,  that  the  preface  of  the  prayer- 
book  is  right  in  referring  to  discipline  all  things  not 
clearly  included  under  the  term  doctrine,  and  in  de- 
claring that,  without  exception,  they  are,  —  episcopacy 
and  the  form  of  church  government  of  course  included, 
— alterable  at  the  pleasw*e  of  the  church.  I  have  never 
seen  the  fact  that  our  church  takes  this  ground  before 
stated ;  but  here  it  is  in  the  prayer-book.  It  cannot  be 
evaded. 

The  exclusive  views  growing  out  of  the  divine 
right  of  episcopacy  have  no  support,  then,  either  in 
the  Bible  or  in  the  prayer-book.  No  real  progress 
can  be  made  towards  the  cure  of  Puseyism,  until 
evangelical  men  shall  have  discarded  from  their  minds 
every  vestige  of  the  divine  right  of  episcopacy. 

Moreover,  if  we  would  get  rid  of  our  tractarian 
tendencies,  we  must  cultivate  christian  union.  We 
must  abandon  all  our  lofty  notions,  and  step  right 
upon  the  platform  of  christian  brotherhood,  taking 
every  christian  man  by  the  hand  as  a  brother  and 
an  equal,  and  according  to  the  true  gospel  rule,  es- 
teeming others  better  than  ourselves.  The  spirit  of 
the  age  demands  this  of  us.  Without  it,  we  shall,  in 
the  great  race  of  love  and  charity,  on  which  the  prot- 
estant  church  is  entering  so  earnestly,  be  left  far  in 
the  rear.    Our  own  life  as  a  denomination  demands  it 


PURIFICATION  OF  OUR  OWN  MINDS. 


259 


of  us.  Without  it,  we  shall  be  thrown,  practically,  in 
spite  of  us,  into  the  society  and  fellowship  of  the  apos- 
tate church  of  Rome.  Our  loyalty  to  Christ  requires 
it  of  us.  Without  it,  our  position  will  more  and 
more  be  found,  of  necessity,  to  be  one  of  antagonism  to 
him  and  his  cause. 


260 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DISCIPLINARY   CLEANSING  OF  THE  CHURCH". 

It  is  an  acknowledged  fact  that  there  is  a  class  of 
men  in  the  bosom  of  the  Episcopal  church,  whose 
views,  feelings,  and  sympathies  are  essentially  Romish. 
Is  it  proper  that  such  persons  should  remain  within  its 
pale  7  Perhaps  it  would  not  be  proper,  so  long  as  they 
can  draw  the  elementary  principles  of  their  system  out 
of  the  standards  of  the  denomination,  to  eject  them. 
But,  these  standards  being  corrected,  according  to  pre- 
vious suggestions,  the  next,  and  closing  act  in  the  cure 
of  tractarianism,  would  be  the  exscinding  of  all  Roman- 
izers.  I  do  not  believe  their  ejection  from  the  church 
would  do  any  good,  the  standards  remaining  as 
they  are ;  for  the  same  causes  which  have  produced 
these,  would,  in  due  time,  generate  as  many  more. 
The  mere  sloughing  from  the  body  ecclesiastic  of  the 
gangrenous  portion  would  avail  little,  unless  corrective 
influences  were  applied  to  the  seat  of  the  disease,  and 
its  power  were  broken  in  the  heart  of  the  constitution. 
Let  this  be  done,  and  then,  as  tractarians  are  dead  to 
protestantism,  the  moment  the  vital  forces  of  our 
system  can  make  a  boundary  line  between  life  and 
death,  they  will  be  thrown  off  in  the  way  that  other 
dead  matter  is. 

"Those  energetic,  evangelic  principles,"  of  which 
Isaac  Taylor  speaks,  "which  gave  life  to  the  preach- 
ing of  Luther  and  his  colleagues,"  and  which  are 
found  in  our  articles,  and  in  some  parts  of  our  prayer- 
book,  produced,  at  an  early  period,  their  necessary 


DISCIPLINARY  CLEANSING  OF  THE  CHURCH.  261 

result,  namely,  a  race  of  energetic,  pure-minded  prot- 
estants,  who  wished  to  remain  in  the  church  of  their 
choice,  and  who  therefore  clamored  for  its  purification. 
The  Cyprianic  influence  being  in  the  ascendant,  these 
men  were  deemed  heretical  disturbers  of  the  church's 
peace,  and  were  therefore  cast  out.  But  this  did  not 
cure  what  was  called  an  evil.  Had  the  church  cast 
away  the  articles  and  a  few  other  things,  and  then 
cast  out  the  puritans,  puritanism  would  have  perished 
in  the  established  church,  though  it  would  have  lived 
and  flourished  beyond  its  pale. 

So  now,  if  our  church  will  first  cast  out  Cyprianism, 
and  then  eject  tractarians,  Puseyism  will  perish  like  a 
tree  plucked  up  by  the  roots.  Let  the  last  step  in  the 
cure  of  tractarianism,  then,  be  the  ejecting  of  tracta- 
rians. This  is  indispensable  to  the  completion  of  the 
cure.  Perhaps  it  would  not  do  any  harm  to  begin 
with  this. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  while  Cyprianism  and 
Lutheranism  have  existed  together  in  the  English 
church,  and  in  our  own,  and  that  while  these  two 
conflicting  elements  have  been  producing  Romanism 
on  the  one  hand,  and  puritanism  or  pure  protestantism 
on  the  other,  all  the  expulsions  from  the  church  have 
been  on  the  puritan  side.  Not  a  Romanist  has  ever 
been  expelled.  Mr.  Newman  remained  four  years 
after  he  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  finally  went  out 
by  his  own  choice.  Dr.  Pusey  still  remains,  though 
holding  all  that  is  essential  to  Romanism.  And  there 
are  men  in  our  own  denomination  in  this  country,  who 
are  known  to  believe  the  doctrinal  matter  of  the 
decrees  of  Trent. 


262 


CONCLUSION. 

The  writer  trusts  it  has  now  been  sufficiently 
demonstrated  that  there  are  in  our  system  two  irrecon- 
cileably  antagonistic  elements,  the  Lutheran  and  the 
Cyprianic.  The  theological  amials  of  the  church  of 
England  and  of  our  own,  spread  out  before  us,  as  the 
results  of  these  elements,  two  systems  of  theology, 
lying  in  latitudes  as  separate  from  each  other  as  the 
northern  and  southern  hemispheres,  and  with  a  boun- 
dary line  between  them  as  well  defined  as  the  equa- 
tor. 

If  this  be  so,  then  any  attempt  to  define  or  explain 
the  causes  of  Puseyism  which  overlooks  these  antag- 
onisms, is  fundamentally  erroneous,  and  can,  at  best, 
only  make  some  indirect  approaches  to  the  truth. 

From  the  history  of  tractarianism  in  England  and 
our  own  country,  we  may  learn  two  things. 

1.  We  may  learn  that  those  who  embrace  high  and 
strained  views  of  the  church,  the  ministry,  and  the 
sacraments,  do  not  know  whither  they  are  going. 
They  are  much  in  the  condition  of  men  who  have 
begun  to  make  a  free  and  habitual  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks,  who  are  on  the  highway  to  the  drunkard's 
grave,  but  cannot  be  persuaded  of  the  fact.  Some  of 
these  men,  to  be  sure,  who  have  got  near  enough  to 
the  engulfing  whirlpool  to  hear  it  roar,  know  very 
well  where  they  are,  and  with  foolish  calnmess  medi- 
tate the  fatal  plunge.  But  the  great  mass  of  those 
who  have  embraced  the  seminal  principles  of  tracta- 
rianism, and  are  just  beginning  to  thread  the  inviting 
paths  by  which  it  conducts  its  votaries  gradually 


CONCLUSION. 


263 


away  from  the  high  road  of  truth,  are  totally  uncon- 
scious of  what  is  before  them.  They  think  they 
are  only  cultivating  a  higher  and  more  becoming 
gi-ade  of  churchmanship.  They  are  only  helping  to 
drive  away  from  the  church  all  loose  views  of  the 
ministry,  and  low  views  of  the  sacraments,  and  are 
restoring  those  distinctively  church  views  which  a 
radical  and  undevout  age  has  so  nearly  destroyed. 
But  they  never  dream  that  they  are  putting  the  church 
in  danger — that  they  are  in  danger  themselves.  Such 
a  suggestion  makes  them  indignant.  They  are  blinded. 
They  are  just  where  the  writers  of  the  tracts  for  the 
times  were  just  after  they  began  the  series.  They  are 
sowing  the  seeds  of  death,  but  they  know  it  not. 
There  are  few  who  seem  to  be  aware  how  many 
among  us  are  in  this  condition. 

2.  We  may  learn  from  what  has  passed  that  there 
is  danger  in  the  very  security  which  is  felt  by  such 
numbers  among  us.  Since  there  has  been  so  general  a 
failure  to  discover,  and  consequently  a  failure  to 
remove,  the  causes  of  Puseyism,  the  fact  of  a  feeling  of 
security  ought  to  be  a  source  of  alarm.  There  are 
large  numbers  of  men  among  us,  who  are  saying  all  is 
well,  and  who  yet,  by  all  they  have  said  on  the  sub- 
ject, have  shown  that  they  knew  not  whereof  they 
affirmed. 

It  is  time,  therefore,  that  we  throw  off  our  slumbers, 
and  begin  in  earnest  to  look  after  the  true  sources  of 
our  troubles.  We  are  already,  as  a  denomination, 
moving  round  in  the  circles  of  the  great  whirlpool 
which  has  engulfed  many  of  our  brethren.  Some 
among  us  are  looking  gleefully  over  the  side  of  the 
boat,  and  are  rejoicing  in  the  increasing  swiftness  of 
its  motion;  others,  who  would  be  alarmed  if  they 
knew  the  actual  state  of  the  case,  have  been  so 


264 


CONCLUSION. 


deceived  by  the  gradual  increase  of  its  motion,  that 
they  seem  not  aware  of  its  having  been  increased  at 
all ;  while  others  still,  unmindful  of  the  craft  in  which 
they  are  sailing  and  of  the  fatally  winding  motion  of 
the  element  in  which  it  glides,  are  trustfully  gazing  up 
into  the  deep  and  calm  heavens,  and  are  forgetting,  in 
the  contemplation  of  their  majestic  and  settled  repose, 
the  unsettled  and  moving  state  of  the  treacherous  ele- 
ment below. 

Our  awful  misfortune  is,  that  these  latter  classes 
attribute  whatever  change  in  our  position  they  may  be 
aware  of,  to  some  accidental  wind  which  is  blowing 
us,  temporarily,  out  of  our  course,  rather  than  to  an 
irreversible  and  fatal  whirl  of  the  flood,  on  which  our 
all  is  embarked.  May  God  convince  them  of  their 
mistake  before  we  are  engulfed ! 


Date  Due 



llYl"  ■ 

J 

1 

